Following the immense success of their first release on Resonus Classics, the renowned Eroica Quartet release an album of String Quartets by Ravel and Debussy. Released to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Debussy’s birth, this album represents the first modern recording of the works to feature performances on gut strings and with aspects of period performance. Over many years the Eroica quartet has successfully established itself as a pioneering group in the rediscovery of nineteenth-century performing techniques and styles by directly challenging the modern assumptions about performance of music from the era. The influence of the early nineteenth-century approach to vibrato, portamento and bowing styles remained largely intact until the 1920s and it is these period techniques to which the quartet turns in order to offer fresh insight into the works.
"...Does the Eroica’s approach work in these gret Impressionist works? The short answer is "yes", although the result is, not suprisingly, unlie any other recording I have heard. Expectedly, there is extraordinary clarity to each part and to the ensemble’s playing as a whole. Owing in a large part to the gut strings, there is also a sweetness to the Eroica’s sound that is quite appealing and, I believe appropriate for these scores ... The Eroica’s performances consist mostly of primary colors, which are fascinating on their own but rarely mix or bleed into each other... The quality of the recorded sound is excellent ..."
Radu A Lelutiu - Fanfare- May/June 2012
Performance **** Recording ****
"This recording has a lot going for it. The Eroica Quartet clearly know these works well, and its leader, Peter Hanson, produces a sweet clean tone that helps bring out much of this music ..."
Roger Nihcols - BBC Music magazine - Awards Issue 2012
"The Strad Recommends"
"Refreshingly rethought interpretations of a classic quartet coupling."
Julian Haylock - The Strad magazine - April 2012
