Dover Quartet to Make Recording Debut With Mozart Album on Cedille Records

The Dover Quartet will make its recording debut with an all-Mozart program on Cedille Records that both mirrors the first album by its mentors, the Guarneri String Quartet, and includes Guarneri founding violist Michael Tree as guest artist.

On Tribute: Dover Quartet Plays Mozart, available October 14, the acclaimed young ensemble-in-residence at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music plays Mozart's final two string quartets, the same strikingly original and challenging works that appeared on the Guarneri's debut LP, issued a half-century ago, in 1966, on RCA: the wistful Quartet in B-Flat, K. 589; and elegant, virtuosic Quartet in F Major, K. 590. The new album adds Mozart's riveting, shape-shifting String Quintet in C Minor, K. 406/516B, with Tree playing second viola (Cedille Records CDR 90000 167).

"Many musicians approach Mozart in an overly delicate manner," says James Ginsburg, Cedille Records founder and president. "But the Dover Quartet digs into this music in a wonderful way. They're absolutely fearless, with the talent to back it up. The intensity of their ensemble playing is unsurpassed. They really are the last word in quartet virtuosity, and a stellar addition to our artist roster."

The quartet found its way to Cedille Records through its management, Melvin Kaplan, Inc., and its record producer, Judith Sherman, both of whom hold the label in high regard. The Dover's residency at Northwestern provided the Chicago connection that's central to the label's mission.

Inspired by Guarneri

The Dover Quartet comprises violinists Joel Link and BRyan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, and cellist Camden Shaw. They formed the group in 2008 while students at the Curtis Institute of Music, where they worked individually and as an ensemble with members of the Guarneri Quartet.

"All four of us grew up listening to and falling in love the Guarneri's recordings," writes cellist Shaw in the album's liner notes. "It was a privilege to see the names on our favorite recordings slowly transform into our mentors and friends.

"For our debut album, we had always planned to pay tribute to the Guarneri Quartet."

In a preface to the album notes, Guarneri violinist Arnold Steinhardt, one of the Dover's frequent coaches at Curtis, writes of their "remarkable musical gifts" and says they have since confirmed his early impression that they have the potential to be "one of the most brilliant and musically significant string quartets in chamber music."

Interpretive Insights

The program notes in the album's 20-page CD booklet provide an unusual degree of insight into the artists' interpretive decisions and emotional responses to Mozart's scores, along with historical information that helped shape the performances.

"We hope this will give our listeners a window into our discussions and a sense of what was on our minds as we played," Shaw writes.

For instance, Shaw relates an "interpretive quandary" at the opening of the String Quartet, K. 590. Should they "crescendo into" the second bar or make a sudden change in mid-phrase from "piano" to "forte" as indicated in the score? What would Mozart do?

"As you'll hear, we compromise in a sense by blooming somewhat in the first bar, and yet still playing more strongly in the second than might be expected," Shaw writes.

Recording Dates and Venues

Tribute: Dover Quartet Plays Mozart was produced and engineered by multiple Grammy award-winner Judith Sherman at sessions December 8-10, 2015, in Miriam & RoBert Gould Rehearsal Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pa.

The Artists

The Dover Quartet captured international attention by winning the Grand Prize and all three Special Prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The New Yorker recently dubbed them "the young American string quartet of the moment," and The Strad observed that the quartet is "already pulling away from their peers with their exceptional interpretive maturity, tonal refinement and taut ensemble." The Chicago Tribune proclaimed, "The Dover Quartet players have it in them to become the next Guarneri String Quartet - they're that good."

In 2013-14, the Dover was the Curtis Institute's first-ever quartet-in-residence. The quartet began its multiyear residency at Northwestern in fall 2015 and gave the first public concert held in the university's new acoustically and architecturally renowned Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall overlooking Lake Michigan.

The Dover received the 2015 Cleveland Quartet Award, among other honors. In its early years, it won grand prize at the Fischoff Competition and special prizes at Wigmore Hall's International String Quartet Competition. More information at www.doverquartet.com.

Tribute: Dover Quartet Plays Mozart marks violist Michael Tree's second appearance on the Cedille label: he performed on the Pacifica Quartet's all-Dvorak album in the String Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 97. A founding member of both the Guarneri String Quartet and the Marlboro Trio, Tree studied violin with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute. He co-founded the Guarneri String Quartet in 1964 and recorded dozens of chamber music works with the ensemble, including quintets with Artur Rubinstein.

Cedille Records

Marking its 27th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, Grammy award-winning Cedille Records (pronounced say-DEE) has been dedicated to showcasing the most noteworthy classical artists in and from the Chicago area since its debut in November 1989.

The audiophile-oriented label releases every new album in multiple formats: physical CD; 96 kHz, 24-bit, studio-quality FLAC download; and 320 Kbps MP3 download.

An independent nonprofit enterprise, Cedille Records is the label of Cedille Chicago, NFP. Sales of physical CDs and digital downloads and streams cover only a small percentage of the label's costs. Tax-deductible donations from individual music-lovers and grants from charitable organizations account for most of its revenue.

Headquarters are at 1205 W. Balmoral Ave., Chicago, IL 60640; call (773) 989-2515; email: info@cedillerecords.org. Website: cedillerecords.org.

Cedille Records is distributed in the Western Hemisphere by Naxos of America and its distribution partners, by Select Music in the U.K., and by other independent distributors in the Naxos network in classical music markets around the world.