Croatian String Quartets

FRAN LHOTKA (1883-1962): Elegy and Scherzo, JOSIP ŠTOLCER SLAVENSKI (1896-1955): String Quartet No. 4, BOŽIDAR KUNC (1903-1964): String Quartet in F, Op. 14.

Description: Kunc was one of the most distinguished Croatian composers of the twentieth century as well as an extraordinary pianist who was known as “the Croatian poet of the piano.” His only quartet very freely treats tonality, expands its space through the linking of various instrumental parts, and often uses them as a colorful backdrop for melodies full of imaginative aspiration in which traces of folkloristic idiom sometimes come into view. Kunc’s deftly articulated and richly colored string sound reveals a composer of a unique individuality. Lhotka, Czech-born, exercised a strong influence on the Croatian music scene for more than fifty years. His captivating Elegy and Scherzo proves to be a fascinating work with contrasting themes invented in the spirit of folk music. Slavenski, an enthusiastic innovator, composed powerful and unconventional works without direct models or formal and stylistic determinants. In 1938 he wrote his fourth and last quartet to Balkan dance music and with highly varied and finely crafted themes. Sebastian String Quartet.