Press quotes/articles 2018

March 24, 2018 by arcadia in Press quotes

31 December 2018

Musicweb International

Bela BARTÓK (1881–1945)Complete StringQuartets

“For some the Arcadia Quartet might just be too civilized. But it is a compelling and very beautiful cycle that elbows its way to a place at the crowded top table.”
by Roy Westbrook

27 December 2018

TransCentury Communications

transcentury.blogspot.com

A LIFE IN STRINGS

(…) the players have an overarching sense of the music’s style and of Bartók’s concerns at this point in his life, and there is an inexorable quality about the way the Arcadia Quartet moves through the work, finding considerable depth even though this is the shortest piece in the Bartók quartet cycle.

(…) The overall poetic quality of the performances is perhaps their most notable feature, but the players’ sensitivity to the quartets’ drama and humor is also highly attractive, and their involvement in the material is practically tangible.

27 November 2018

Musicweb International

musicweb-international.com

RECORDING OF THE MONTH

“They show a great deal of control and focus throughout this recording, as well as a mastery of even the tiniest detail of phrasing.”

by Stuart Sillitoe

2 November 2018

Gramophone, UK

gramophone.co.uk

BARTÓK Complete StringQuartets (Arcadia Quartet)

“(…) if I was asked to recommend a Bartók cycle to a first-time listener intimidated by his spiky reputation, I’d send them straight to the Arcadia Quartet.”

by Richard Bratby

28 October 2018

WQXR | New York’sClassical Music Radio Station

www.wqxr.org

The Best Classical New Releases of October 2018

“(…) it is often argued that no composer did more advance the string quartet than Béla Bartók. The Arcadia Quartet’s vibrant take on Bartók’s six quartets is prima facie evidence for this claim. Every quartet worth its salt has recorded at least one of Bartók’s, but the young Romanian ensemble takes pains to distinguish the composer’s most radical innovations — his peculiarly symmetrical notion of form, liberal use of extended technique and incorporation of hard-driving Hungarian folk rhythms — where other groups smooth them over. These works have a monstrous quality to begin with, and the Arcadia’s electrifying performance gives them an almost Frankensteinian sentience, groaning (the Fifth Quartet’s spectral Adagio), shrieking (the Third’s piercing Coda) and howling (the Fourth’s vicious finale) their way to, hopefully, inspiring the next great compositional mind to upend this medium.”

by Zev Kane

3 September 2018

Innersound Festival 2018

innersound.ro

Recitalul cvartetului Arcadia – prin ochii unui muzicolog

“Cvartetul Arcadia = renume, diplomat cultural al României, idealul interpret visat de compozitorii de pretutindeni.”

by Mioara Bâscă