Outstanding.

The disc opens and closes with "Arioso - Hommage a Walter Levin 85"; why two renditions? The first is played with wooden mutes, the second with metal mutes. The wooden account is quite gentle in tone from the Athena Quartet. The 6 Moments musicaux Op. 44 are next up and are frequently really quite withdrawn in character despite having a section written in homage to Gyorgy Sebok, another dedicated to Tabea Zimmermann and the final being written "in Janacek's style"(!) After a forthright opening, the short "Hommage a Jacob Obrecht" at times belies its "sostenuto" marking and has some quite astonishing passages using harmonics in its brief 4'30 duration. Next up is the "Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervansky" (a composer who's quoted alongside Webern) which as the title suggests a collection of 15 miniatures, most of which are only about 0'30 in duration. The discipline & conciseness of Kurtag's composition is astonishing and compelling (unlike many who attempt this style).

The next work "Aus der Ferne V" was written in memory of one of the most influential publishers in C20: Alfred Schlee. Not only did Schlee safeguard many Austrian scores of Jewish composers during WW2 but he then ensured publication of many "out of favour" composers from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain (including Kurtag himself). "Aus der Ferne V" is, like much of Kurtag's quartet output, concise but probing which the Athena Quartet respond with vivid intensity. Following this is "Hommage a Mihaly Andras", a set of 12 miniatures, for a general all-round musician & workaholic(!); the fifth is particularly powerful in its quiet sustained intensity. The Athena Quartet capture this with great aplomb and also the violent outbursts that follow with great assuredness and compelling communication of Kurtags concise but acerbic language.

"Aus der Ferne III" is then presented but this time for the occasion of Alfred Schlee's 90th birthday, yet the material is surprisingly unchanged in character between the celebration and the memorial offerings. The last "new" offering is Kurtag's Quartet Op.1 which was written nearly 20 years before Kurtag's next excursion into this medium (the Mihaly Andras homage). Again, like most of the works here, all the movements are short but never trivial. There are many techniques or effects called upon of which many a student composer is beloved but few (if any) manage to make them into a cohesive whole as here. To close, the metallic mutes come out for the second performance of "Arioso" - it sounds really wiry here & very much more eerie!

The sound is excellent; superb definition of the instrumentalists locations and vivid capturing of the myriad of effects and textures. Perfect distance too - neither too close to hear the rosin but not too far for the quartet to merge into one voice only.

Recommended.

Copyright © 2012 John Broggio and HRAudio.net

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