Dudok Quartet - Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No.3, String Quartet Movement the Seasons (CD)

Performed using gut strings, the Dudok Quartet's Tchaikovsky String Quartet cycle is notable for the 'new' sound world gut strings reveal. There is a raw naturalness to the sound together with an intimacy steel strings cannot match. After completing his 3rd quartet in 1876, Tchaikovsky all but abandoned chamber music, and embarked on a remarkable period of creative output which included the last three symphonies, and the majority of his operas. His only chamber works after the quartets are the piano trio and sextet of 1882 and 1890 respectively and the string quartets date from 1865 for the incomplete B flat work, to 1876 and the final quartet which is the centre piece of this album. The Dudok's arrangements of four of the solo piano works that form The Seasons rounds off this album, and the Dudok's cycle of Tchaikovsky's string quartets.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Quartet Movement in B Flat TH 110
2. String Quartet No. 3 in E Flat minor Op. 30 TH 113-I. Andante Sostenuto - Allegro Moderato
3. String Quartet No. 3 in E Flat minor Op. 30 TH 113-II. Allegretto Vivo E Scherzando
4. String Quartet No. 3 in E Flat minor Op. 30 TH 113-III. Andante Funebre E Doloroso, Ma Con Moto
5. String Quartet No. 3 in E Flat minor Op. 30 TH 113-IV. Finale: Allegro Non Troppo E Risoluto
6. Seasons Op. 37A TH 135-March: Song of the Lark
7. Seasons Op. 37A TH 135-July: Song of the Reaper
8. Seasons Op. 37A TH 135-September: The Hunt
9. Seasons Op. 37A TH 135-October: Autumn Song