March 31, 2005
JANOS STARKER CELEBRATION
New Releases
JANOS STARKER CELEBRATION - Schubert & Boccherini String Quintets (DE 3344)
Recorded live at the El Paso Pro Musica Chamber Music Festival on February 28, 2004, this new release on Delos pays tribute to the artistry of cellist Janos Starker, now 80 years old, and his collaboration with four young string players in performances of two favorite chamber works: Boccherini's String Quintet in C Major, G.349, and Schubert's String Quintet in C Major, D. 956. Both works feature two violins, a single viola and two cellos.
In addition to Janos Starker, whose cello is featured in both pieces, the other participants are Soovin Kim and Kurt Nikkanen, violins; Kirsten Johnson, viola; and Zuill Bailey, cello. Each of the four is an outstanding musician with impressive lists of concert engagements. Zuill Bailey, in particular, is to be noted both for his virtuosic playing and his management and business skills as the organizing force behind the entire El Paso Pro Musica Festival.
The Boccherini piece, one of more than 100 quintets he composed, has been a favorite with Starker since his youth when he often used the last movement as an encore solo.
The Schubert Quintet, one of his last compositions, is perhaps the greatest work ever composed for this combination of instruments. Its wealth of lyric melody, tragic pathos, virility and positive ebullience is hard to comprehend in the work of a composer so near his premature death.
The musical performaces are exemplary, beautifully recorded with that extra sense of occasion and alertness often only achieved during a live performance.