Richard Flury: Chamber Music, Volume One
The exploration of the music of the Swiss composer Richard Flury (1896–1967) on Toccata Classics now turns to his chamber output, with this first recording of his String Quartets Nos. 1 and 4. Flury was himself a gifted violinist, and these works – written for personal pleasure and for musician friends – were composed with an intimate familiarity with the medium. In the fourteen years between these two quartets, Flury’s musical language consolidated, from the early foray into mild modernism heard in No. 1 into the rich, late-Romantic aesthetic of No. 4.
Colla Parte Quartet
Georg Jacobi and Susanna Holliger, violins
Friedemann Jähnig, viola
Eva Simmen, cello
Listen To This Recording:
String Quartet No. 1 in D Minor (1926) (21:40)
- I. Allegro (6:28)
- II. Andante (5:44)
- III. Scherzo (3:45)
- IV. Allegro vivo (5:43)
String Quartet No. 4 in C Major (1940) (34:19)
- I. Allegro (13:28)
- II. Andante (7:25)
- III. Vivace (6:39)
- IV. Allegro molto (6:46)
First Recordings
MusicWeb International :
‘The Colla Parte Quartet was founded in 1997 by musicians from the Bern Symphony and plays with sensitive understanding of Flury’s essentially undemanding ambitions. The First was recorded in the studio, the Fourth in a church, but producer Gerald Hahnefeld ensures there’s no incongruity between the two acoustics.’
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
Classical Music Sentinel :
‘These finely-crafted String Quartets by Swiss violinist and composer Richard Flury (1896-1967), should have had close encounters with recording studio microphones long before now. […]
This is consummate and polished 20th century string quartet writing that doesn’t dredge up the gas chambers or plays way out in left field. In fact, the richly harmonic slow movement of the C Major (audio clip below) is highly redolent of late 19th century chamber music. Thanks to efforts like this, we get to hear neglected music for the first time.’
—Jean-Yves Duperron, Classical Music Sentinel