CD ECM Records Zehetmair Quartett - Bela Bartok, Paul Hindemith

Thomas Zehetmair - vioara
Kuba Jakowicz - vioara
Ruth Killius - viola
Ursula Smith - violoncel

Five years after their widely acclaimed recording of Béla Bartók’s fourth string quartet the Zehetmair quartet (in new line-up) play the Hungarian’s masterly fifth quartet, written in 1934, coupled with Paul Hindemith’s fourth from 1921 which is marked by a neo-classicist return to elaborate polyphony and baroque forms: landmarks of 20th century chamber music in interpretations of analytical clarity and emotional intensity.

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Gramophone - Editor’s Choice; The Strad - Chamber Selection; Fono Forum - Empfehlung des Monats; Diapason d’Or de l’année; Diapason d’Or Pizzicato - Supersonic Award

Zehetmair leads his wonderfully responsive string quartet through two quartets composed between the two world wars. Bartók’s Fifth from 1934 receives a surprisingly relaxed performance… But the real surprise is Hindemith’s much less familiar Fourth Quartet. Composed in 1921, it’s hardly ever heard, but Zehetmair and his colleagues show that it deserves a place among the finest of 20th-century works for the medium. … There’s a real rigour and intensity about it that are compelling.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian

Pairing these two very different works makes good sense. Both count among the finest (and toughest) string quartets of the first half of the 20th century. And both take the form of symmetrical five-movement structures. The Zehetmair Quartet offer playing of huge finesse in both pieces – alert and exciting in the faster movements, poised and responsive in slower music.
Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times

Bartok’s 5th and Hindemith’s 4th Quartets make excellent companions on disc… Zehetmair and Co. have looked at Bartok’s manuscript, and seen the way in which it was committed to paper, seemingly at white-hot speed. That elemental energy makes it into the performance, and they’re alive to the folk elements, as well as the sardonic humour of the mechanical-music-box in the last movement. The hushed, eerily nostalgic opening of the Hindemith is a lovely foil to Bartok’s finale. … Both are fine performances, but perhaps the greatest achievement is in putting Hindemith after Bartok, and proving that he’s not found wanting.
Andrew McGregor, BBC Online (CD of the week)