TOCH: String Quartets 6 & 12

Verdi Quartett

CPO 999776

Our cpo edition of Ernst Toch's string quartets continues on Volume 3 with the Quartets No. 6 op. 12 and No. 12 op. 70. If the sixth quartet is the earliest surviving work in this genre, the twelfth is the first that Ernst Toch composed after his temporary artistic silence caused by the Second World War. Between 1933 and 1945 he wrote only 8 works, one of these few is this quartet from 1946. It is not surprising that after his long writer's block he turned back to his favorite genre of the string quartet. As he wrote in a letter in 1946: "I am in the process of writing my string quartet, the first in 18 years. Composing a string quartet was a heavenly delight before the world knew anything about the atom bomb, and - in this respect - nothing has changed."

The expressive quartets are interpreted by the Verdi Quartet. "The Verdi Quartet fascinates in the delicacy of the gestural filigree and finds the optimal balance between the exposure of the harmonic detail and the propulsive flow that constantly undermines and transforms the colors."

Works:

•Toch: String Quartet No. 6, Op. 12
•Toch: String Quartet No. 12, Op. 70

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

CPO

14-11-2003

761203977628