Debussy String Quartet, Ravel String Quartet : Talich Quartet (2012)

Until Claude Debussy's remarkable string quartet of 1893, a Germanic model had defined the genre. Debussy's was the first quartet that sounded utterly and completely French. In it, modal thematic elements and parallel chord progressions characteristic of Impressionism are paired with a coloristic finesse and thematic development that are as breathtaking as the work's visceral beauty. Ravel's quartet, written almost a decade later, took the form's transformation a step further. Using classical forms and structures, Ravel deftly combined the old and the new to create a work that is timelessly modern. The famed Talich Quartet is featured on this new recording for the La Dolce Volta label of these two cornerstones of the French repertoire.