Catalogue # CHAN10707

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Erich Wolfgang Korngold was one of the most astonishing\nprodigies in the history of western music, admired by Mahler,\nStrauss, and Puccini. His compositions were regularly performed by\nrenowned musicians from around the world.

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Korngold composed his Sextet for Strings between 1914 and 1916,\nat the same time as his opera Violanta, and for this reason\nperhaps, it takes on some of the theatrical elements of that work.\nThe first movement presents some highly intricate counterpoint\namong the different voices. In the Adagio the mood shifts to one of\nintense sensuousness. The third movement brings relief to the\nhighly charged atmosphere. Here Korngold plays – sometimes with an\nair of irony, sometimes jokingly, sometimes more straightforwardly\n– with that most Viennese of genres, the waltz. The finale, in\ntypical Korngold fashion, is high-spirited and good-humoured.

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The highly successful premiere of the Quintet for Two Violins,\nViola, Cello, and Piano took place in Hamburg in 1923 with the\ncomposer at the keyboard. The work is in three elaborate and\ncomplex movements, with a piano part of considerable difficulty,\nand string writing on a virtuosic scale. With good humour and charm\naplenty, the quintet displays the composer’s sunny disposition. In\nthe work Korngold incorporated a musical code that he had developed\nto send secret, loving messages to his fiancée during concert\nperformances.

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Described by the magazine Gramophone as ‘one of the finest young\nstring quartets’, whose members are ‘musicians with fascinating\nthings to say’, the Doric String Quartet has received rave\nresponses from audiences and critics across the globe. The\nQuartet’s recent recording of Korngold’s string quartets was a 2010\nCritics’ Choice in Gramophone, and the group’s most recent\nrecording on Chandos (CHAN10692), of Schumann’s three string\nquartets, was ‘Recording of the Month’ in BBC Music. The Quartet is\njoined on this recording by Kathryn Stott on piano, Jennifer Stumm\non viola, and Bartholomew LaFolette on cello.

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Korngold:
\nString Sextet in D, Op. 10
\nPiano Quintet in E major, Op. 15

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Jennifer Stumm (viola) & Bartholomew LaFollette\n(cello)
\nKathryn Stott (piano)

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Doric String Quartet

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