The Wister Quartet

DTR9501 72:31 CD

Performed by The Wister Quartet     Buy!

The general theme of this 70+ minute program is music from central Europe. The novelty of this disc is the Sandor Devich transcription of Franz Liszt's famous Mephisto Waltz No. 1. Maestro Devich is presently head of the string department of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest and has served as concertmaster of the Budapest Philharmonic. He has also appeared throughout Europe playing the major solo violin repertory with major orchestras. Devich's arrangement was published in 1987 and in recent seasons has figured frequently in the concerts by The Wister Quartet.

The contemporary work on this program is the appealing String Quartet No. 4 by the late Polish composer, Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969). Written in 1950 and published a year later, Bacewicz's now-popular work received the First Prize out of 57 entries in the International Composers' Competition in Liege. Later it received other prizes and it has served as a competition piece in the Geneva International String Quartet Competition.

Completing this program is Antonin Dvorák's String Quartet in G Major, Op. 106. Among the last two of Dvorák's chamber works, Op. 106 was premiered by the Bohemian Quartet in Prague in 1896.

The Philadelphia-based Wister String Quartet consists of:
Nancy Bean, first violin
Davyd Booth, second violin
Pamela Fay, viola
Lloyd Smith, violoncello

The Wister Quartet gives more than 50 appearances each season in the Eastern United States in addition to their other professional activities.

"Starting with a hair-raisingtreatment of Liszt's fiendish Mephisto Waltz, this expert ensemble also offers an intense, gripping quartet by Bacewicz and an earthy gem by Dvorák. Rating: 4 stars. "--Philadelphia Daily News (Tom Di Nardo)

"The Dvorák is a masterpiece and the Wister plays it masterfully."--Chestnut Hill Local (Michael Caruso)

"Playing of symphonic breadth and richness characterizes the Wister's account of Dvorák's String Quartet No. 13 in G Major. The musicians give an affecting account of the sorrowful adagio but also achieve brilliant effects in the other movements. The Wister Quartet's [live] performances are characterized by big, vibrant sound and aggressive playing. Thos qualities leap out from the compact disc in the Wister's fearless account of the Liszt Mephisto waltz. The Wister Quartet surmounts the extraordinary technical challenges in Devich's transcription in a reading notable for its furious rhythmic drive and fiercely concentrated playing. DTR captures the performance in spacious digital sound." --[Camden] Courier Post (Robert Baxter)