Catalogue

Summary:

The Cypress String Quartet debuted on AVIE with a recording of their namesake work, Dvořák’s “Cypresses” coupled with the composer’s expansive G major Quartet, No. 13 (AV 2275), “a lovely performance,” according to International Record Review. The Czech composer features again in the ensemble’s American Album with his beloved “American” Quartet, which shares the program with Barber’s String Quartet, featuring the famous Adagio central movement,”Two Sketches Based on Indian Themes” by Charles Griffes, and the single-movement Lento assai by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Kevin Puts. This recording is a stunning appreciation of the American spirit from 1893 to the present.

Tracklist:

ANTONIN DVOŘÁK (1841–1904)

String Quartet No.12 in F Major, Op.96 “American”
1. I Allegro ma non troppo (8:58)
2. II Lento (6:19)
3. III Molto vivace (3:43)
4. IV Vivace ma non troppo (5:26)

CHARLES TOMLINSON GRIFFES (1884–1920)

Two Sketches Based on Indian Themes
5. Lento e mesto (6:29)
6. Allegro giocoso (3:32)

KEVIN PUTS  (b. 1972)

7. Lento assai

SAMUEL BARBER (1910–1981)

String Quartet in B Minor, Op.11
8. I Molto allegro e appassionato (7:45)
9. II Molto adagio (7:18)
10. III Molto allegro (come prima) – Presto (2:14)

Cypress String Quartet

Cecily Ward • Tom Stone, violin
Ethan Filner, viola • Jennifer Kloetzel, cello

Recorded 2011 at Skywalker Sound, Lucas Valley, California
Producer: Cecily Ward
Engineer: Mark Willsher
Assistant Engineer: Dann Thompson