LOUIS VIERNE (1870-1937): String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 12, Piano Quintet in C Minor, Op. 42.

Catalogue Number: 07K059
Label: MD&G
Reference: 644 1505-2
Format: CD
Price: $17.98
Description: It's been exactly eight years since these emotionally fraught chamber works last got a new recording so we're happy to offer this new release. The composer's desolation and pain are almost palpable in his 1917 quintet which he wrote in memory of his 17-year-old son who was killed in action in the trenches. The style may be indebted to his teacher Franck but the raw emotion leaps out of this score and is entirely Vierne's. The quartet dates from 1894 while the composer was still a student of Widor and Franck's influence is more clearly present although the tension and rich harmonies foreshadow much of Vierne's mature œuvre. Spiegel String Quartet, Levente Kende (piano).