Fanfare Magazine’s, Lynn René Bayley has a pre-release review for our Bartók & Kodály recording!
“This fascinating set combines the string quartets of two then-young professors of music in Hungary, Béla Bartók and Zoltan Kodály. …
“I felt that Alexander’s performance of the first quartet’s opening movement, though less leisurely in feeling, has a tensile quality that immerses the listener in Bartók’s unique sound world and holds your attention. It is almost as if Alexander’s players had the entire score in their heads, could “see” the music progression as one continuous flow from first note to last, and thus propelled it into the ether for the benefit of the microphones. …
“Listen particularly to the slow movements here: Kodály’s music, and Alexander’s playing of it, are exceptionally lovely and moving in addition to being musically clean. Once again, as in their Bartók, Alexander has found a way of bringing out the music’s tender side when tenderness is called for—more frequently in these Kodály works. … as a total package this one is irresistible. If you’ve put off buying a set of the Bartók quartets until now, and/or don’t have any recordings of the Kodály, you can’t go wrong with this collection. It is, quite simply, terrific.” —Lynn René Bayley, Fanfare Magazine
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