Apotheosis Volume Two Should Be Your First Choice in Mozart’s Piano Quartets
Fanfare Magazine’s Huntley Dent offers a second review for our July 27th release, Mozart: The Piano Quartets, Apotheosis, Vol. 2 with pianist Joyce Yang!
“The long-standing and widely praised Alexander Quartet brings warmth and vitality to Mozart’s wonderful piano quartets, which date from 1785 and 1786—fitting just before and after Le nozze di Figaro—performing them with the capacity to make experienced listeners travel back in time. This is what the elite of American quartets sounded like when the Alexander was founded in 1981.… I’ll admit to it freely—the Alexander Quartet plays Mozart as heirs to a lineage I cherish…the Alexanders sound probing and sympathetic, ranging from sparkling gaiety to floating lyricism and vivid exuberance…Yang is impeccable in mastering each aspect—one never feels that the Classical bounds have been exceeded, yet her playing isn’t dainty or understated. Yang exhibits a lovely feeling for the lyric line in the two slow movements, where the piano carries much of the music. … In all, this lovely new release could easily be a listener’s first choice in two of Mozart’s most ingratiating chamber works. The recorded sound is excellent. The Foghorn label is dedicated to extensive releases from the Alexander Quartet, and among the late works of Mozart, they’ve recorded the quartets dedicated to Haydn and are moving on to the “King of Prussia” Quartets next. I’ve promised myself to listen to both.”
“The long-standing and widely praised Alexander Quartet brings warmth and vitality to Mozart’s wonderful piano quartets, which date from 1785 and 1786—fitting just before and after Le nozze di Figaro—performing them with the capacity to make experienced listeners travel back in time. This is what the elite of American quartets sounded like when the Alexander was founded in 1981.… I’ll admit to it freely—the Alexander Quartet plays Mozart as heirs to a lineage I cherish…the Alexanders sound probing and sympathetic, ranging from sparkling gaiety to floating lyricism and vivid exuberance…Yang is impeccable in mastering each aspect—one never feels that the Classical bounds have been exceeded, yet her playing isn’t dainty or understated. Yang exhibits a lovely feeling for the lyric line in the two slow movements, where the piano carries much of the music. … In all, this lovely new release could easily be a listener’s first choice in two of Mozart’s most ingratiating chamber works. The recorded sound is excellent. The Foghorn label is dedicated to extensive releases from the Alexander Quartet, and among the late works of Mozart, they’ve recorded the quartets dedicated to Haydn and are moving on to the “King of Prussia” Quartets next. I’ve promised myself to listen to both.”