For the Record, Op. 117: Tetzlaff Quartet; Nash Ensemble; Solomiya Ivakhiv

April 30, 2020, 7:32 PM · Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening!

The Tetzlaff Quartet.

Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 132 & 130/133
Tetzlaff Quartet
Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Elisabeth Kufferath, violin
Hanna Weinmeister, viola
Tanja Tetzlaff, cello

In tribute to Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year: When writing his final String Quartets (Op. 127–135) Beethoven was quickly becoming increasingly ill and understood that he would never be able to recover fully. Beethoven had just completed his Ninth Symphony when he received a commission to write string quartets. What resulted was a string of totally unique masterpieces highly individual in their language and unusual in their form. This album contains String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132; String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 130; and the Grosse Fuge Op. 133.
BELOW: Excerpt from the third movement of Beethoven's String quartet No. 15, Op. 132:

Clara Schumann & Fanny Mendelssohn: Piano Trios & String Quartet
The Nash Ensemble

This recording from The Nash Ensemble celebrates the talents and importance of the 'other' Mendelssohn and Schumann; that is Fanny Mendelssohn, sister to Felix Mendelsohn, and Clara Schumann, wife to Robert Schumann. It features Clara Schumann's Piano Trio in G minor Op. 17 and
Fanny Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor Op. 11 and String Quartet in E flat major. BELOW: Excerpts from the album:

Haydn + Hummel: Double Concertos for Violin and Piano
Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin
Antonio Pompa-Baldi, piano
Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, Theodore Kuchar conducting

This CD features two examples of classical-era double concertos: Franz Josef Haydn's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Strings in F major and Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra in G major. The modern view of the concerto genre is dominated by the great nineteenth and twentieth-century staples that showcase a single soloist, but from the invention of the concerto in the late seventeenth century until some way into the 1800s, composers frequently wrote for different combinations of multiple soloists. The two works on this disc remind us of the fruitful possibilities afforded by the double concerto medium. BELOW: Trailer for the album:

If you have a new recording you would like us to consider for inclusion in our Thursday "For the Record" feature, please e-mail Editor Laurie Niles. Be sure to include the name of your album, a link to it and a short description of what it includes.

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