Edge of the Storm
Winner of Chamber Music America’s Album of the Year Award
Telegraph Quartet's junior album – the second in a series of recordings titled 20th Century Vantage Points – examines the turbulent years of war and its aftermath from 1941-1951 through Grażyna Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 4 (1951), Benjamin Britten's String Quartet No. 1 (1941), and Mieczysław Weinberg's String Quartet No. 6 (1946). Through this series, the Telegraph Quartet intends to explore string quartets of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since forming in 2013.
Track List:
- Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969): String Quartet No. 4 (1951)
- I. Andante-Allegro moderato
- II. Andante
- III. Allegro giocoso
- Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): String Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 in D major (1941)
- I. Andante sostenuto-Allegro vivo
- II. Allegretto con slancio
- III. Andante calmo
- IV. Molto vivace
- Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996): String Quartet No. 6, Op. 35 in E minor (1946)
- I. Allegro semplice
- II. Presto agitato - attacca
- III. Allegro con fuoco - attacca
- IV. Adagio
- V. Moderato commodo
- VI. Andante maestoso
Recorded and Produced by Alan Bise
Cover image: Twilight | Wassily Kandinsky | Used by permission
Graphic Design: Monica Mussulin ©2025 Azica Records
Published by Azica Records 2025
Telegraph Quartet Sheds Light on Music of Dark Times with Edge of the Storm
Here, as in all the vibrant performances on this creatively curated and extensively annotated disc, the Telegraph Quartet (supported by excellent sound engineering) plays with commitment, distinction, and finely disciplined passion.
Here, as in all the vibrant performances on this creatively curated and extensively annotated disc, the Telegraph Quartet (supported by excellent sound engineering) plays with commitment, distinction, and finely disciplined passion.
Telegraph Quartet plays all three works beautifully. They never try to make these pieces anything more than what they are: intensely personal responses to a world at war with devastating personal consequences.
Telegraph Quartet plays all three works beautifully. They never try to make these pieces anything more than what they are: intensely personal responses to a world at war with devastating personal consequences.
The turbulent, destabilising and demoralising impact of the Second World War hovers uneasily over the three quartets in this enterprising and thought-provoking release... The Telegraph Quartet interpret [Britten's First Quartet] with poise. Their accounts of the war-scarred second and fourth movements are technically brilliant and ferociously articulated.
The turbulent, destabilising and demoralising impact of the Second World War hovers uneasily over the three quartets in this enterprising and thought-provoking release... The Telegraph Quartet interpret [Britten's First Quartet] with poise. Their accounts of the war-scarred second and fourth movements are technically brilliant and ferociously articulated.
Now quartet-in-residence with the University of Michigan, the ensemble – violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violist Pei-Ling Lin, and cellist Jeremiah Shaw – approaches this music not simply as historical document, but as a living challenge to engage with the past.
Now quartet-in-residence with the University of Michigan, the ensemble – violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violist Pei-Ling Lin, and cellist Jeremiah Shaw – approaches this music not simply as historical document, but as a living challenge to engage with the past.
Telegraph Quartet is showing itself to be one of the most exciting string quartets of our time.
Telegraph Quartet is showing itself to be one of the most exciting string quartets of our time.
Nimble and cohesive, the Telegraph Quartet plays these works with utter conviction, revealing music that, haunted by destruction, insists on forward motion.
Nimble and cohesive, the Telegraph Quartet plays these works with utter conviction, revealing music that, haunted by destruction, insists on forward motion.