EUGÈNE YSAŸE (1858-1931): String Quintet in B Minor, String Quartet London (arr. Jacques Ysaÿe [b.1922]), Andante in B Minor for String Quintet, Paganini Variations for String Quartet (arr. Jacques Ysaÿe).

Description: Recently we've had a string trio, a work for two violins and, last February, an opera in the Walloon language from this composer mostly known only for his solo violin sonatas. Now we get two works for string quintet (two violas) from 1893 and 1894. The Quintet is also a single-movement, lasting 20 minutes, and its harmonic tensions and frequent changes of tempo convey a dramatic character which stylistically has bits of both Franck and of Debussy. The Andante is not short either - 14 minutes - and it bears some resemblances to Fauré. The 13-minute "London" quartet has its origins in a duo for two violins from 1916, to which Ysaÿe later added a viola, to which his grandson (who, as a jazz musician, went by the name Jack Say [!]) added a cello to make it a string quartet; the ten-minute Paganini Variations had a slightly more involved path from an original solo violin work. Kryptos Quartet, Vlad Bodganas (viola).