Stand By Me Archive

Altius Quartet: “Dress Code” = Haydn Quartet in C major Op.74 No.3; Bolcom Three Rags; Arrangements of Dave Brubeck, Led Zeppelin, Ben E. King, and a-ha – Altius Quartet – Navona Records  

by Audiophile Audition | Sep 24, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Altius Quartet: “Dress Code” = Haydn Quartet in C major Op.74 no.3. Bolcom Three Rags. Arrangements of Dave Brubeck, Led Zeppelin, Ben E. King, and a-ha – Altius Quartet (Joshua Ulrich and Andrew Giordano, violins. Andrew Krimm, viola. Zachary Reaves, cello) – Navona Records  NV6078, 55 minutes, (4/14/2017) ****: Altius Quartet brings fresh life to a classic masterpiece within a contemporary framework… Whatever possessed the Altius Quartet to come up with a program blending the talents of Franz Joseph Haydn and William Bolcom with four pop arrangements turns out be a most fortunate inspiration, and the Altius Quartet chose wisely and played well, laying out their sequence of interspersed music like one continuous scroll. Haydn particularly benefits from this approach because it enables you to focus on and realize just how powerfully he creates his musical worlds. Each of the movements of his extraordinary String Quartet Op.74 No.1 has entirely its own personality and structure, each contains at its core an overwhelmingly affectionate joke, and each is blessed with rare beauties. The Quartet have captured this well, even adding to the occasion with a little joke of their own in the form of an unwritten crescendo on the opening chord […]