JUAN CRISÓSTOMO DE ARRIAGA The complete string quartets
GCD 923102
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La Ritirata Hiro Kurosaki, violin Miren Zeberio, violin Daniel Lorenzo, viola Josetxu Obregón, violoncello
Production details
Total playing time 76:39 Recorded in Madrid (Real Conservatorio de Música, Sala Tomás Luis de Victoria), in June and July 2013 Engineered by Federico Prieto Produced by Federico Prieto and J. Obregón Executive producer: Carlos CésterEnglish - Français - Español - Euskera - Deutsch
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JUAN CRISÓSTOMO DE ARRIAGA (1806-1826) The complete string quartetson period instruments
Quartet no. 2 in A major 01 Allegro con brio 02 Andante. Tema con variaciones 03 Minuetto: Scherzo. Trio04 Andante ma non troppo. Allegro
Quartet no. 1 in D minor 05 Allegro 06 Adagio con espressione 07 Menuetto: Allegro. Trio: Più moderato08 Adagio. Allegretto
Quartet no. 3 in E flat major 09 Allegro 10 Pastorale: Andantino 11 Minuetto: Allegro. Trio: Plus lent12 Presto agitato
13 Tema variado en cuarteto, op. 17
About this CD
It is no real surprise that Josetxu Obregón’s La Ritirata has recorded the string quartets of Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga to follow up its earlier Early Baroque programme of Il Spiritillo Brando on Glossa: cellist Obregón’s principal teacher has been Anner Bylsma and the two musicians share a deep fascination with the music of an earlier Classical composer in Luigi Boccherini.
In this new recording the Bilbao-born Obregón is joined by violinists Hiro Kurosaki and Miren Zeberio, and viola Daniel Lorenzo; the underlying spirit of La Ritirata is of an intensive consideration of musical (and other) sources before attempting fresh interpretations of scores. This is precisely what the musicians have done for this survey of Arriaga’s quartet output for Glossa – they have also included the Tema variado en cuarteto, Op 17 – in order to get closer to the sound world of the Spanish composer who left his native Basque Country at the age of 15 to study and compose in Paris in 1821. Five short years of life remained to him before an untimely death ended a hugely promising career.
Original scores, a violin treatise by Arriaga’s teacher in Paris and the use of period instruments (for the first time on a recording of the Arriaga works) form the backbone of the critical apparatus for La Ritirata’s new and vital approach to these portentous works – by a composer for whom the ongoing reappraisal of his significance in music is currently being shorn of its romantic legend and replaced by an assessment which is still intriguing but greatly more realistic.