Search - Ravel, Schulhoff Haydn, Cypress String Quartet, Tom Stone , Ethan Filner , Jennifer Kloetzel Cecily Ward :: Cypress String Quartet: Haydn, Ravel, Schulhoff

This exciting recording brings together three of the Cypress String Quartet's favorite works from their 2001-2002 season. Haydn explores form and structure while examining his depth of emotional experience in his Op.76 No.5. A sicilienne first movement contrasts with the Largo cantabile e mesto, one of Haydn's most solemn and inspired creations. The Menuetto is broad and graceful in character, while the Finale is one of the most energetically rustic and humorous movements in all chamber music. Ravel's Quartet is filled with exotic influences and invention. A Javanese Gamelan performance at the 1889 Paris Exposition made such a strong influence on Ravel that he imitated both the sound and musical construction of Gamelan music in the second movement. Throughout the piece Ravel creates brilliant little musical "objects" that combine into intricate accompaniments and coloristic effects. Schulhoff composed his Five Pieces in 1923. With his vast repertoire of sounds, ! Schulhoff created miniature pictures of popular dances, including a spoof of a Viennese Waltz, an uneven Arabic dance, a pulsing Czech folk dance, an evocative Tango and a rollicking Tarantella. The Cypress String Quartet has performed to great acclaim worldwide. Praised by the Los Angeles Times for its "musical astuteness and virtuoso resources," the Quartet has been featured in Chamber Music Magazine as a "Generation X ensemble to watch" and has made regular appearances on NPR's "Performance Today." Formed in 1996, the ensemble has toured extensively, including concerts in Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, London and Tokyo.