Dvořák's music gained wider recognition and publication through the support of Johannes Brahms, who was impressed by his Moravian Duets.
Composer Biography
Antonín Dvořák, the composer, initially earned his living as a viola player in an orchestra that later became the Czech Provisional Theatre Orchestra.
Composer Biography
Dvořák's musical abilities were encouraged by his father, a butcher and innkeeper, who later became a zither player himself.
Compositional Technique
Dvořák's String Quartet No. 4, written around 1870, features pioneering and wild outer movements that were highly unusual for the time and foreshadowed modernist innovations.
Performer Biography
The Fine Arts Quartet, founded in Chicago in 1946, is one of the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music, with an extensive legacy of over 200 recorded works.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Dvořák's time as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York aimed to provide a blueprint for American national music, following the example of Czech national music.
Instruments
Jens Peter Maintz, one of the cellists on this album, plays the 'Ex-Servais' cello made by Giovanni Grancino in 1697.
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Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 4 & Verklärte Nacht
Bella: String Quartet in C Minor / String Quintet in D Minor
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A Major & String Octet in E-Flat Major
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Mendelssohn: Octet, Op.20; String Quartet, Op.80
Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Complete Chamber Music for Strings, Vol. 4
