Search - Joseph Jongen :: Joseph Jongen: Quatuors à cordes, Vol. 2

As important as the Ravel and Debussy string quartets

Jose Rocha M. Pontes | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 01/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joseph Jongen is, in my opinion, an impressionist at the same level of Ravel and Debussy. The fact of having lived mostly in Belgium and not in Paris, seems reason for being ignored for half a century. His works include sacred and organ pieces, some of them relatively well known, like the accessible Symphonie Concertante. A CD by the excellent pianist Gary Stegall (Klavier Records, 1992) shows the importance and yet, the originality of Jongen's impressionism. His chamber works are also remarkable and include music for harp, strings and wind instruments, piano trios and quartets, an unusual trio for piano, violin and alto and three refined string quartets. The third one is part of this outstanding CD, along with two other short pieces.



The excellent and well balanced performance presented by the Gong String Quartet in this and in the Volume 1 (Pavane, 2003) of Jongen's SQs is what was needed to call attention for the stature, the freshness and the colors of these works. Both CDs are claimed as world premieres by Pavane. Bravo!, Gong String Quartet for disclosing these forgotten string quartets."