Named after the legendary violinist Adolf Busch (1891-1952), this young trio has already established itself on the international scene as one of the most talented of the new generation. Under the aegis of Alpha Classics and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the group set itself a challenge: to record the complete chamber music with keyboard of Anton�n Dvor�k. They managed to complete this project in four years and four albums: two albums of the piano trios, one of the piano quartets and one of the quintets. They were joined where necessary by the violist Miguel da Silva (founder of the famous Quatuor Ysa�e) and the violinist Maria Milstein. The four albums are assembled here in a set, providing an opportunity to listen to all ten opuses that make up the Czech composer's output of chamber music with piano. Throughout these recordings, there is an obvious rapport between the musicians, who share with us their passion for this repertory and their pleasure in playing together.

Errico Petrella, was a Sicilian-Neapolitan composer, a contemporary of Verdi and Wagner and a maverick student of the Neapolitan school. Jone was composed for the 1857 carnival-Lent season of La Fenice in Venice, but was included instead in the 1857-58 season at La Scala and it made its debut in Milan’s leading opera house on January 26, 1858. The libretto, based on the historical novel, The Last Days of Pompei, by Bulwer-Lytton, is set in Pompei in 79 ad and was put into fairly elegant verse by the Venetian poet and patriot Giovanni Peruzzini. It tells the story of two young Greeks, Glauco and Jone, whose love is obstructed by the plotting of Arbace, the high priest of Isis. The plot mirrored the preferences of the day and was a percursor to the pro-oriental and pseudo-archeological trend that would characterize so much of European opera in the second half of the century.

Classical Music

Maitena (1909) was a further step towards achieving the ideal of Basque opera linked to that of its own lyric theatre. For the critic and musicographer Francisco Gascue: “Colin has written a score that is as far from Wagnerian complications as it is from orchestral poverty; it is accessible without being poor or rudimentary. Colin has shown the same exquisite taste in the handling of the orchestra as in the choice of melodies”. He also singles out the duet between Domingo and Maitena at the beginning of Act I, the tenor and baritone duet that follows, the quartet in Scene VI, the melody sung by Chaadiñ at the beginning of Act II, Batista’s couplets and for its effect and simplicity the Angelus scene. He ends by noting the appropriate treatment of the chorus.

To us, the Rolston String Quartet, the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is simply irresistible - and so, a debut album containing only his finest chamber works was an obvious choice. Cherished for his memorable and beautifully simplistic melodies, Tchaikovsky's music is innately joyous, virtuosic, and heart-wrenching, often all at once- yet never violent in nature. As musicians, we adore the charm and childhood nostalgia that Tchaikovsky is able to encompass from start to finish. In this album, we have selected a work from each of his early, middle, and late periods: his String Quartet No. 1 in D major, selections from his Children's Album, and his beloved Souvenir de Florence for string sextet. Not only could we showcase a quartet that we treasure, but we were given the opportunity to collaborate with two of the Chapel's brilliant professors: violist Miguel da Silva and cellist Gary Hoffman. We gravitate towards Tchaikovsky's chamber music more than other composers' because of his stunning ability to write symphonically: right form the opening chords of the D major quartet, Tchaikovsky expands the sonic possibilities of the traditional string quartet towards that of a symphony orchestra. To round out the program are five delicate and endearing pieces: our favorite selections from Tchaikovsky's Children's Album for solo piano, arranged for string quartet by Rostislav Dubinsky, the founding first violinist of the Borodin Quartet.

Classical Music