ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942): String Quartets, Vol. 1 - No. 3, Op. 19, No. 4, Op. 25 "Suite", 2 Sätze.

Description: Only budget-price recording of Zemlinsky's quartets. The Third (1924), associated with the death of the composer's sister, is neurotically choppy and changeable without being in any sense atonal and the Fourth (1936) was in memoriam Alban Berg and has six movements (hence the quartet's subtitle) and bridges the gap between Zemlinsky's earlier Romanticism and the modern age of the 20th century. The "Two Movements" of 1927 were themselves intended to be part of a six-movement work. The first refers rather plainly to Yankee Doodle (!) while the second is among the most dissonant and melancholy music Zemlinsky ever composed. Escher String Quartet.