Search - Giacomo Puccini, Ottorino Respighi, Richard [Classical] Wagner :: String Quartets by Opera Composers

E. HUMPERDINCK's String Quartet!...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 05/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

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The original Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921)--(whose delightfully colourful name was grossly hijacked and defamed by an absurd 1970s' soft-pop hack [!])--was at the turn-of-the-century a very talented working musician, assistant to Wagner at Bayreuth, and friend to the doomed Hugo Wolf.

(Humperdinck had been a pupil of both Lachner and Rheinberger

Rheinberger: Nonet in F major; Lachner: Nonet in E flat major.)



Humperdinck's String Quartet in C-major was probably written c. 1905. Not too long at :18 mins duration, it is a gorgeous example of Jugendstil esthetic which invokes folkish gestures in an highly organized architectonic structure featuring emotive themes in imaginative episodes suggestive of narrative.

Engelbert Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel

Humperdinck: Orchestral Works

Humperdinck: Complete Songs for Voice & Piano

Engelbert Humperdinck: Klavierlieder

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Verdi's e-minor String Quartet (1873) is here nicely performed, with timings closely paralleling the Amadeus' reading.

Amadeus Quartet Plays Bruckner, Smetana, Verdi

Verdi, Puccini: Music for String Quartet

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Puccini's fragrant Chrysanthemums (1890) are richly redolent of the mauve Belle Époque--and far too short at :05 mins; ditto Wagner's Tristanesque Album-Leaf which cleverly suspends harmony for not even :02 mins.

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Besides his noisome symphonic poems, Respighi wrote a piano quintet, two string quartets, a violin sonata, and this unhinged setting of Shelly's "The Sunset."

Respighi: String Quartets

Respighi: Piano Quintet; String Quartet; Six Pieces for Violin and Piano

Strauss, Respighi: Violin Sonatas [Germany]

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The Leipziger String Quartet is splendid as usual on this concept disc which is a little skimpy at 1 hour's duration.

The star here is Humperdinck's Quartet--a rare catch for aficionados of that most refined genre.

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