Beethoven - Bartók - Dvořák: String Quartets

On this album, the fêted Juilliard String Quartet unveils its first recording under a new lineup, with Greek violinist Areta Zhulla playing first violin. The three great composers chosen here allow the quartet to show their mastery in wonderfully different yet satisfying ways. In his second “Rasumovsky” Quartet (1808), Beethoven gazes at the sublime with music cloaked in darkness, beautifully detailed here with just the right sense of urgency. Bartók’s String Quartet No. 3 (1927), placed second on this album, inhabits a world of mystery and the Juilliards capture its beauty to perfection. In Dvořák’s ebullient “American” Quartet (1893), their rhythmic response is a joy.