Out of Vienna: Berg, Webern, Schulhoff | Alpha ALPHA1196

Out of Vienna: Berg, Webern, Schulhoff

£14.73

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Label: Alpha

Cat No: ALPHA1196

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 30th January 2026

Contents

About

The Leonkoro Quartet, founded in 2019 and winner of multiple prestigious awards in 2022 – nine prizes at the Wigmore Hall International Competition, including first prize, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, Jürgen Ponto Foundation Music Prize, first prize at the Bordeaux Competition – joins Alpha Classics for several recordings. First stop: Vienna and its influence on the musical landscape of the early 20th century. Berg completed his Lyric Suite on 5 October 1926: combining theatricality and rigorous architecture, free atonality and dodecaphonism, this suite expresses the composer's passionate love for Hanna Fuchs at that time. Erwin Schulhoff, born in Prague in 1894, was discovered by Dvořák and studied in Vienna from the age of 12; he dedicated his Five Pieces to Darius Milhaud, as he also studied in Paris with Debussy around 1913, ultimately dying in a prison camp in Bavaria in 1942. In his Opus 5, described by Glenn Gould as ‘sensual’ expressionism, Webern mourns the death of his mother on 7 September 1906.

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Reviews

They [the Leonkoro Quartet] begin with refinement, intensity and beauty in Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite. They play Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet with real character; different dances spring to life with wit and quirky imagination.  And Anton Webern’s later Five Movements for String Quartet are really superbly focused.
Record Review (BBC Radio 3) 1 February 2026
Berg’s Lyric Suite was a fervent outpouring to his mistress, and the quartet aptly captures the moody sensuality of this intense, intricate music. The Andante Amoroso swoons; the Allegro Misterioso tiptoes on muted strings; the Presto Delirando is positively coital. The playing is unflinching and seethes with imaginative detail. ... Again, the playing and recorded sound are top-tier.  Clive Paget
The Guardian 30 January 2026
Gramophone Editor's Choice

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