Manifesto on Love
Barbican Quartet
GENUIN (GEN 24878 barbicanquartet.com)
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Robert Schumann
from 3 Zweistimmige Lieder, Op. 43/1, transcribed for string quartet by Christoph Slenczka
"Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär"
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Leoš Janáček
String Quartet No. 2 “Listy důvěrné” (Intimate Letters)
IV. Allegro-Andante-Adagio
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Dobrinka Tabakova
Ear of Grain
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Read the Review
Since 2015 the German GENUIN label has been awarding a special prize to a winner of their choice at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, financing the production of a CD to be released in their ARD Music Competition Edition series. Manifesto on Love is the resulting debut album from the Barbican Quartet, First Prize winners in 2022 (GEN 24878 barbicanquartet.com).
Janáček’s String Quartet No.2 “Intimate Letters” from 1928 opens the disc. Written mere months before his death and frequently referred to as his “manifesto on love” it is essentially a love letter to his muse, the much younger Kamilla Stösslová. It’s full of nervous intensity, naked emotion, passionate outbursts and an almost painful intimacy, all beautifully captured by the Barbican.
There’s a definite Janáček feel to The Ear of Grain, the Dobrinka Tabakova work commissioned by the 2022 ARD competition as the compulsory piece and one which the performers clearly know well.
Two Schumann works – his String Quartet in A Minor No.3, Op.41 and the brief song Wenn ich ein Vöglein vär, arranged by the quartet’s violist Christoph Stenczka – complete a fine CD.
