COMPOSERS: Grieg; Schumann; Elgar; Debussy and Dvorák
LABELS: Discrete Recordings
WORKS: String Quartet arrangements of Grieg, Schumann, Elgar, Debussy and Dvorák
PERFORMER: Pavão Quartet
CATALOGUE NO: 801
You need a sweet tooth to enjoy this one: 13 short pieces for string quartet (12 of them arrangements) by different composers, all of them contemplative, some soporific in nature – a comfortable proposition for soothing late-night listening. There are, mind, things to make you sit up very sharply – what, for instance, are bits of Wagner’s Ring cycle doing topping and tailing Carlo Martelli’s ‘arrangement’ of Schumann’s ‘Träumerei’? A tad random, possibly? No complaints, however, about the Pavão Quartet’s playing, which is well balanced, tastefully blended, and certainly never soupy. Gershwin’s ‘Lullaby’ (the one genuine quartet composition) is a good track to sample, and there’s some impressively controlled swell-dynamics in the closing Largo from Dvorák’s New World Symphony. Tuning is excellent throughout. Terry Blain