Korngold String Sextet & Piano Quintet Doric String Quartet, Kathryn Stott, Jennifer Stumm, Bartholomew LaFollette

• Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 - 1957): Piano Quintet in E Major, Op. 15:
• 1 Korngold: Piano Quintet in E Major, Op. 15: I. Mäßiges Zeitmaß, mit schwungvoll blühendem Ausdruck 12:33
• 2 Korngold: Piano Quintet in E Major, Op. 15: II. Adagio. Freie Variationen über die Lieder des Abschieds 11:58
• 3 Korngold: Piano Quintet in E Major, Op. 15: III. Finale. Gemessen beinahe pathetisch 08:02
• String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10:
• 4 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: I. Moderato 10:05
• 5 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: II. Adagio. Langsam 10:09
• 6 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: III. Intermezzo 06:58
• 7 Korngold: String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10: IV. Finale. So rasch als möglich 07:07
• Total Runtime 01:06:52

Info for Korngold String Sextet & Piano Quintet

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

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

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

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

"The Doric String Quartet and friends evoke a sepia-toned bygone time in their delicate but enthusiastic interpretations. They are too intelligent to add extra emotion to pieces already bursting with it; instead they faithfully enter the spirit of old Vienna...the Piano Quintet's slow movement is a special highlight - rapt, tender and sincere." (BBC Music Magazine)

"The Quintet opens with one of those glorious Korngoldian melodies of the type that would later translate into music for the silver screen...The Sextet is given an equally vigorous and stylish reading with passages of great tenderness...It aches to have lyrics attached - at least that is how the vocal quality of the playing emerges in this warmly recorded disc with its excellent booklet" (Gramophone Magazine)

"The Doric Quartet is making a name for itself in Korngold...I’d be more than happy to recommend the Doric Sextet for its tonal warmth, and its finely structured approach to the Sextet" (MusicWeb International9

Jennifer Stumm, viola
Bartholomew LaFollette, cello
Kathryn Stott, piano
Doric String Quartet

The Doric String Quartet is now firmly established as one of the outstanding quartets of their generation. In 2008 they won 1st prize in the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, 2nd prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy, where they also received a special mention for their performance of Haydn, and the Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany.

Now in its 12th season highlights over the last year have included a critically acclaimed Haydn evening at Wigmore Hall broadcast by BBC Radio 3, debut recitals in Paris (Auditorium du Louvre), Milan and Frankfurt, and visits to the Schwetzinger, Florestan, Isle of Man and East Neuk Festivals. Further afield the Quartet toured throughout Japan and returned to Israel and South East Asia. They have collaborated with Mark Padmore, Chen Halevi, Julius Drake, Piers Lane, Melvyn Tan, the Leopold String Trio and Florestan Trio.

During 2009/10 the Quartet return to Wigmore Hall four times, as Quartet and in recitals with Philip Langridge, Andrew Kennedy (for a world premiere) and Alasdair Beatson. Future engagements include recitals at the Konzerthaus in Berlin and in Lucerne, Brussels and Hamburg, return visits to Israel and Italy, and debut concerts in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the USA.

In November the Doric’s first commercial CD is released on the Wigmore Hall Live label of their Haydn concert at Wigmore Hall on 15 January 2009 and in 2010 they record their first CD for Chandos as part of a long-term collaboration.

Formed in 1998 at Pro Corda, The National School for Young Chamber Music Players, in Suffolk, from 2002 the Doric String Quartet studied on the Paris-based ProQuartet Professional Training Program, where they worked with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, Hagen and LaSalle Quartets and with Gyorgy Kurtag. The Quartet continue to work with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Music Academy in Basel.

In 2000 the Doric String Quartet won the inaugural Bristol Millennium Chamber Music Competition which led to a seven year residency at the Wiltshire Music Centre combining a concerts series with education work across the region. They continue this relationship as ‘Artists in Association’. The Quartet went on to give recitals at the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall under the auspices of the Park Lane Group, appeared at the ORF (Austrian Radio) Funkhaus in Vienna in 2003 and made their Edinburgh Festival debut in 2006.

Alex Redington and Jonathan Stone completed their postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 where they studied with Howard Davis. Simon Tandree studied in Saarbrücken and Detmold with Dietmut Poppen. John Myerscough graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge in 2003 and is now a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studies with Louise Hopkins.

The Doric String Quartet acknowledges the generous support of an Anonymous Foundation.

This album contains no booklet.