Mansurian, Tigran - String Quartets - Rosamunde Quartet

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"Mansurian writes extremely well for quartet; the textures and polyphonic working are basically traditional, with little in the way of outré effect. ... The Second Quartet consists of three slow movements, putting one in mind of the five Adagios of Shostakovich's Fifteenth Quartet. This is a work of ravishing if crepuscular beauty, deeply tonal, whose melodic language is partly influenced by a song by the much-loved Armenian national composer Komitas as well as by Armenian sacred music of the middle ages. ... The performances by the Rosamunde Quartett of all three works bespeak utter identification with the music and create a very finely tuned chiaroscuro of quiet dynamics."
(International Record Review)

Rosamunde Quartet:
Andreas Reiner, violin
Simon Fordham, violin
Helmut Nicolai, viola
Anja Lechner, violoncello

Recorded May 2004