DONALD TOVEY (1875-1940): Aria and Variations in B Flat, Op. 11, String Quartet in G, Op. 23.

Catalogue Number: 11M062
Label: Guild
Reference: GMCD 7346
Format: CD
Price: $19.98
Description: Don't be fooled by its innocuous-looking title: the 1900 Aria and Variations is the longest single-movement piece of its genre for string quartet that I can think of - 32 minutes of Brahmsian melos building in intensity to a crowning contrapuntal center before descending again into the calm and warmth with which it began. From 1909, the 35-minute quartet is one of those relaxed, sunny pieces one associates with, say, Brahms' first Serenade, with a lovely Pastorale second movement with references to the bagpipe drone of the baroque works of that genre. Tippett Quartet.