Jean Françaix; Alexandre Tansman; Laszlo Lajtha - Paris Bar (Notos Quartett)

Information

Composer: Jean Françaix; Alexandre Tansman; Laszlo Lajtha

• Françaix - Divertissement
• Tansman - Suite-divertissement
• Lajtha - Piano Quartet, Op. 6

Notos Quartett

    Sindri Lederer, violin

    Andrea Burger, viola

    Philip Graham, cello

    Antonia Köster, piano

Date: 2022

Label: Sony

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Review

The Notos Quartet’s growing reputation has up until now been based largely on music of an impassioned nature, whether it be studio recordings of Bartók, Dohnányi, Kodály and Brahms, or live YouTube performances of Schumann and Walton. Now this piano-based quartet has turned its attention to music that, at least in the case of Françaix’s Divertissement and Tansman’s Suite-Divertissement, requires a slightly lighter touch.

Almost inevitably in works of this kind, the piano takes centre stage and, in the Françaix, Antonia Köster injects just the right degree of playfulness into the proceedings. Violinist Sindri Lederer, violist Andrea Burger and cellist Philip Graham share with Köster a highly tuned sensitivity for musical balance and palpably enjoy the freewheeling neo-Classicism of this piece.

The six-movement Tansman – an Introduction et Marche, Sarabande, Scherzino (Polka), Mélodie, Nocturne and Finale – is emotionally more wide-ranging, and the Notos responds in kind, with playing that ranges from extreme delicacy to full-on melodic rapture.

This is the premiere recording of László Lajtha’s early Piano Quartet, composed in 1925, not long after the first of his ten string quartets. The Notos relishes to the full its intoxicating, elusively Franco–Hungarian flavour.

— Julian Haylock

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Since its foundation in 2007, the Notos Quartett has won six first prizes and various special awards in numerous international competitions. The ensemble has since established itself internationally, performing in renowned European concert halls and festivals, as well as travels regularly abroad to Russia, Australia, South Africa and Asia. In addition to the well-known masterpieces, the quartet is particularly committed to contemporary music and world premieres. The musicians also endeavor to track down lost and forgotten works of the piano quartet genre and to present them to a wider audience.

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