The album's concept explores the transition from an old world to a new one, from national folklore to the musical identity of an unknown continent.
Composition History
Dvořák composed the sketches for his Quartet in F major, known as the 'American' Quartet, in just three days while enjoying a rustic life in Spillville, Iowa.
Composition History
Dohnányi's Third String Quartet was written during a 1926 visit to the United States, before he permanently settled there in 1949.
Composer Biography
Ernő Dohnányi, a Hungarian composer, fled Nazism, the Second World War (which killed his two sons), and post-war communism to take refuge in Florida.
Composer Biography
Dvořák was invited to become the Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York in October 1892.
Performer Biography
The Quatuor Modigliani chose their name after being enchanted by an exhibition of the painter Amedeo Modigliani in 2003, appreciating the musicality of his name and the unique personality of his style.
Compositional Technique
The 'American' Quartet by Dvořák incorporates American elements through the use of the pentatonic scale and the accentuation of the third and seventh degrees of the minor scale in the Lento, similar to blues music.
