Schubert: String Quartets Nos. 13 & 14 Doric String Quartet

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804, "Rosamunde":
• 1Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804, "Rosamunde": I. Allegro ma non troppo13:04
• 2Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804, "Rosamunde": II. Andante06:06
• 3Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804, "Rosamunde": III. Menuetto. Allegretto07:14
• 4Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804, "Rosamunde": IV. Allegro moderato07:13
• String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Der Tod und das Madchen":
• 5Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Der Tod und das Madchen": I. Allegro15:02
• 6Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Der Tod und das Madchen": II. Andante con moto13:04
• 7Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Der Tod und das Madchen": III. Scherzo. Allegro molto03:34
• 8Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Der Tod und das Madchen": IV. Presto08:33
• Total Runtime01:13:50

Info for Schubert: String Quartets Nos. 13 & 14

On this release, the Doric String Quartet turns to the music of Franz Schubert. It is the Quartet’s fifth release for Chandos, and the discography has gone from strength to strength. MusicWeb International said of the recent Korngold release (CHAN10707): ‘The Doric Quartet seem to have a Midas touch, and any repertoire they commit to disc comes out sparkling’. Their Schumann release (CHAN10692) was ‘Recording of the Month’ in both Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine.

In March 1824, despite describing himself as ‘the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world’, Schubert completed not only the great Octet, but also the two String Quartets recorded here.

The String Quartet in D minor is considered the greatest of Schubert’s late quartets, mainly on account of its raw emotional honesty, which reaches an almost unendurable pitch in the second movement, a set of variations based on Schubert’s song Der Tod und das Mädchen. All four movements are driven by extensively repeated rhythmic figures, reminiscent of the musical style of Schubert’s great idol, Beethoven.

Full of Schubertian ambivalence, the String Quartet in A minor is a deeply intimate work. The opening, expressing brooding sadness, is played by the first violin over a restless accompaniment, and subsequently interrupted by flurries of almost manic energy. In the second movement, Schubert ‘borrowed’ the main melody from the second Entr’acte of his incidental music to the play Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern (1823) by Wilhelmine von Chézy.

"The Doric Quartet play with passion, but there is relaxation, even wit, in both these works, and the Doric seem to be eager to stress the prevailing darkness at the expense of warmth and lyricism, which is so notable in the A minor Quartet. They play with notably little vibrato, so the impression of coolness is increased." (BBC Music)

"The Dorics have enormous flair for this kind of music, getting comfortably under the skin of music written by Schubert when he was about the same as their average age and displaying a similar degree of maturity and insight" (Gramophone Magazine)

"imaginative and exciting...The A minor’s opening shows the Doric’s alertness to the quintessentially Schubertian combination of nervous, obsessive rhythm and songlike melodic lines...The D minor is very fine, culminating in a tingling presto finale whose whispered, ghostly pianissimos make the sudden outbursts all the more ferocious." (Sunday Times)

Doric String Quartet

The Doric String Quartet is now firmly established as one of the outstanding quartets of their generation. In 2008 they won 1st prize in the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, 2nd prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy, where they also received a special mention for their performance of Haydn, and the Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany.

Now in its 12th season highlights over the last year have included a critically acclaimed Haydn evening at Wigmore Hall broadcast by BBC Radio 3, debut recitals in Paris (Auditorium du Louvre), Milan and Frankfurt, and visits to the Schwetzinger, Florestan, Isle of Man and East Neuk Festivals. Further afield the Quartet toured throughout Japan and returned to Israel and South East Asia. They have collaborated with Mark Padmore, Chen Halevi, Julius Drake, Piers Lane, Melvyn Tan, the Leopold String Trio and Florestan Trio.

During 2009/10 the Quartet return to Wigmore Hall four times, as Quartet and in recitals with Philip Langridge, Andrew Kennedy (for a world premiere) and Alasdair Beatson. Future engagements include recitals at the Konzerthaus in Berlin and in Lucerne, Brussels and Hamburg, return visits to Israel and Italy, and debut concerts in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the USA.

In November the Doric’s first commercial CD is released on the Wigmore Hall Live label of their Haydn concert at Wigmore Hall on 15 January 2009 and in 2010 they record their first CD for Chandos as part of a long-term collaboration.

Formed in 1998 at Pro Corda, The National School for Young Chamber Music Players, in Suffolk, from 2002 the Doric String Quartet studied on the Paris-based ProQuartet Professional Training Program, where they worked with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, Hagen and LaSalle Quartets and with Gyorgy Kurtag. The Quartet continue to work with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Music Academy in Basel.

In 2000 the Doric String Quartet won the inaugural Bristol Millennium Chamber Music Competition which led to a seven year residency at the Wiltshire Music Centre combining a concerts series with education work across the region. They continue this relationship as ‘Artists in Association’. The Quartet went on to give recitals at the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall under the auspices of the Park Lane Group, appeared at the ORF (Austrian Radio) Funkhaus in Vienna in 2003 and made their Edinburgh Festival debut in 2006.

Alex Redington and Jonathan Stone completed their postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 where they studied with Howard Davis. Simon Tandree studied in Saarbrücken and Detmold with Dietmut Poppen. John Myerscough graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge in 2003 and is now a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studies with Louise Hopkins.

The Doric String Quartet acknowledges the generous support of an Anonymous Foundation.

Booklet for Schubert: String Quartets Nos. 13 & 14