Discography
www.arabesquerecords.com
Alfred Schnittke Z6707
String Quartets No. 2 and No. 3
Piano Quintet (with Gary Graffman)
CD Reviews
Alfred Schnittke: String Quartets Nos. 2
and 3; Piano Quintet
with Gary Graffman, piano
Arabesque Z6707
****As a grittier alternative to Kronos’ Schnittke,
the Lark Quartet has also recorded two of the composer’s
quartets, the Second and the Third, as well as the eerie, gloom-tinged
Piano Quintet. This is a young, fearless ensemble that takes an
aggressive approach to contemporary music-the Lark premiered Aaron
Jay Kernis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning String Quartet No.2-and
its performances here are unlike those of Kronos, but similarly
revelatory. Both pieces, as well as the elegiac Piano Quintet,
are played with plenty of tonal depth and verve.
San Francisco Chronicle-July 1998
We have the Lark and Kronos String Quartets to thank
for new recordings of music by Alfred Schnittke, who died this
summer. (The Piano Quintet) is played with poignancy on the Lark
Quartet’s recording, a disc that imbues the Quartets Nos.
2 and 3 with lyrical strivings. For the Quintet, Curtis Institute
director Gary Graffman makes and agile and thoughtful keyboard
guest.
The Philadelphia Inquirer-September 1998
The already impressive list of fine musicians who’ve
recorded the music of Alfred Schnittke is extended yet again by
this new release from the four women of the Lark Quartet. This
dedicated, dynamic ensemble explores the composer’s music
in its characteristically elegiac mood. It gets to grips with the
popular Third Quartet, explores its less well-known predecessor,
and with pianist Gary Graffman delivers a refined reading of the
Piano Quintet. The Lark succeeds masterfully.
BBC Music Magazine-October 1998
The all-female Lark Quartet has issued a disc coupling
(Schnittke’s) 2nd and 3rd quartets with the piano quintet.
The Moscow String Quartet has paired the same quintet with Shostakovich
…the Kronos Quartet has taken on all of Schnittke’s
chamber work….
The Lark Quartet disc is a hands-down winner on every
count. The quartet’s tone is warm and rich, handsomely accommodating
Schnittke’s references to tradition. Yet, where coloristic
effect is called for, the Lark goes for the throat, rendering each
phrase with gripping power and utmost control. The performance
of the Quintet is likewise intense…the result is ethereal
and powerful in equal measure.
Tucson Citizen-August 1998
The young, American, all-female Lark Quartet have
been gathering prizes and critical encomia over the past ten years
or so, and these sensitively prepared performances of three of
Schnittke’s most memorable chamber pieces shows just why.
I’m pretty sure I’ve not heard a better focused or
more full-blooded account of the Second Quartet, nor one which
held my attention more consistently. In the Third Quartet, where
Schnittke distils his existential Angst into a more cogent and
moving structure, The Lark have nothing to fear from comparison
with the Borodin Quartet…”
Gramophone-October 1998
Coincidental with Schnittke’s death comes the
release of several recordings…, among them the Kronos Quartet’s
traversal of his chamber works, two new recordings of his Piano
Quintet, the Lark Quartet’s rip-snorting account of his String
Quartets Nos. 2 and 3 and the Bolshoi Theatre’s spirited
recording of his ballet Esquisses. As might be expected, the Kronos
traversal of the quartets has a distinct personality to it. The
surprise is how much better the Lark Quartet plays the Quartets
2 and 3. The first thing one notices is the richness and warmth
of the Lark’s ensemble sound. What comes as such a shock
is how much more expressive and colorful the Lark makes each work.
From both a sonic and interpretive standpoint, the Lark’s
reading of the Piano Quintet outdistances that of the Moscow String
Quartet. The Lark, by contrast, lets rip the full range, from the
ethereal to the bombastic.
Stereophile-November 1998
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