Search - Antonin Dvorak, Keller Quartet :: Dvorák: String Quartet No. 12 'American'; String Quintet, Op. 97

Dvorak in Spillville

A. B. Mendillo | Kingston, Rhode Island | 06/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dvorak composed his "American" string quartet (Op. 96) and his string quintet (Op. 97) during the summer of 1893 while on vacation in Spillville, Iowa---a small farming community populated mostly by Czech immigrants.



The possibility that the composer included a so-called American musical idiom in the quartet and the quintet has been discussed in print since these works were first performed. My untutored sense is: You have to stretch to hear Native American drum idioms in these works, whereas the presence of a Dvorak/Bohemian-folk-inspired idiom is both very obvious and very beautiful.



For those who want the quartet and quintet together on a single CD---thereby recapitulating the sequence of composition of these two works---this one by the Keller Quartet (with violist Anna Deeva in the quintet) is highly recommended. There is a real sense of ensemble; tempos seem right; and the recorded sound is bright and clear. Other recordings to consider include the Alban Berg Quartet version of the quartet (EMI), and the Chilingirian Quartet version of the quintet (with violist Simon Rowland-Jones)(Chandos)."

Wonderful

Samuel Stephens | TN, USA | 08/28/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is top-notch stuff. Great performances of Dvorak's two most lyrical, beautiful, entertaining, and moving chamber works.



If you see this around and you want Dvorak chamber music, get it.



Dvorak always manages to capture the ear with his music, and even if you are generally wary of chamber music, you should make an exception to these works."

Really nice music, well performed

Howard Tompkins | Needham MA USA | 09/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dvorak's "American Quartet" flowed out of his pen during the first three weeks of his 1893 summer vacation in Spillville, Iowa. Most of it had already been composed in his head during the previous winter in New York City, except for the repetitious embellishment in the scherzo provided by a local redwing blackbird one morning. The Keller String Quartet from Hungary gives it a loving happy performance, then with an extra violist plays the string quintet that Dvorak created right then for himself and the local Spillville string quartet to play. The Quintet is nice, but not as memorable as the American Quartet. I replay this CD often."