Debussy & Ravel: String Quartets

With their hazy harmonic colours and expressive intensity, Debussy and Ravel’s String Quartets stand as chamber monuments to the Impressionist era. In the hands of the Jerusalem Quartet, each masterpiece emerges fresh with details exquisitely re-rendered and dramatic flourishes enhanced. The fragrant, smoky opening of Debussy’s early work tumbles and cascades, while the emotionally complex Andantino waxes and wanes in beautiful arcs. Ravel’s equally youthful quartet is painted in bold brushstrokes, too, the composer’s meticulous markings respected to the letter. The tranquil opening builds to a climax of almost overwhelming passion, while the whipped pizzicatos of the second movement are electrically charged, precise and urgent.