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Debussy: String Quartet & Sonatas
The Nash Ensemble
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2025, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, March 2025, Chamber Choice
Musical lines pass in a single, continuous breath from one instrument to the next, and the sensual, dreamlike soundscapes are tinged with immaculately drawn moments of both despair and joy....
Debussy: String Quartet & Sonatas
The Nash Ensemble
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, February 2025, Editor's Choice
-
BBC Music Magazine, March 2025, Chamber Choice
Musical lines pass in a single, continuous breath from one instrument to the next, and the sensual, dreamlike soundscapes are tinged with immaculately drawn moments of both despair and joy....
About
The personnel may have changed over the years but the musical standards remain reassuringly high. Currently celebrating its 60th anniversary season, The Nash Ensemble here delivers perfectly judged accounts of Debussy's String Quartet & Sonatas.
Besides that early quartet and the three sonatas which date from the composer's final years, the programme also includes a rare outing for David Walter's chamber ensemble arrangement of the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.
Scored for twelve players (single strings and winds, plus harp and crotales), this is an idiomatic version which loses none of the mastery and languor of the orchestral original. This album again demonstrates the truth of The Sunday Times's evaluation of the Nash: 'chamber music royalty'.
From two players to twelve: few ensembles could respond with equal authority to the very varied demands made by this wonderful collection of Debussy's chamber music. But then, few ensembles can stand comparison with the Nash, whose members continue to set the standards across a dauntingly wide repertoire. A realization of the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune for chamber ensemble adds to this album's more familiar attractions of the string quartet and three sonatas.
Contents and tracklist
- Gareth Hulse (oboe), Philippa Davies (flute), Richard Hosford (clarinet), John McDougall (bassoon), Richard Watkins (horn), Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Jonathan Stone (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello), Graham Mitchell (double bass), Lucy Wakeford (harp), Richard Benjafield (percussion)
- The Nash Ensemble
- Recorded: 2023-12-11
- Recording Venue: All Saints Church, East Finchley, London
- Stephanie Gonley (violin), Alasdair Beatson (piano)
- The Nash Ensemble
- Recorded: 2023-12-11
- Recording Venue: All Saints Church, East Finchley, London
- Philippa Davies (flute), Lawrence Power (viola), Lucy Wakeford (harp)
- The Nash Ensemble
- Recorded: 2023-12-11
- Recording Venue: All Saints Church, East Finchley, London
- Adrian Brendel (cello), Simon Crawford-Phillips (piano)
- The Nash Ensemble
- Recorded: 2023-12-11
- Recording Venue: All Saints Church, East Finchley, London
- Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Jonathan Stone (violin), Lars Anders Tomter (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello)
- The Nash Ensemble
- Recorded: 2024-02-28
- Recording Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London
Awards and reviews
-
Gramophone MagazineFebruary 2025Editor's Choice
-
BBC Music MagazineMarch 2025Chamber Choice
March 2025
Musical lines pass in a single, continuous breath from one instrument to the next, and the sensual, dreamlike soundscapes are tinged with immaculately drawn moments of both despair and joy. An alluring and, in time, vintage recording.
February 2025
Debussy’s sole String Quartet ends the disc...The Nash’s fleet-footed reading is enormously enjoyable, as is this entire disc.
16th January 2025
While the account of the string quartet seems rather pallid alongside the best versions available on disc, the performances of the three sonatas are all outstanding...It’s great music played with all the warmth and understanding it needs.
7th January 2025
Sixty years have told us that with the Nash Ensemble’s musicians, whatever their repertoire, nothing can ever really go wrong.