Diffusion (2021)

This rather mysterious release from the Verona Quartet offers novel graphics but little information about the music or the performers' encounter with it. Instead, one reads that "Diffusion explores a mosaic of folk cultures in their unbridled journey across the globe" and that the works "reveal a kaleidoscopic snapshot of cultural migration at the turn of the century." As it happens, these are not really significant aspects of Leo? Janácek's String Quartet No. 2 ("Intimate Letters") or Ravel's String Quartet in F major, nor ... Read More

This rather mysterious release from the Verona Quartet offers novel graphics but little information about the music or the performers' encounter with it. Instead, one reads that "Diffusion explores a mosaic of folk cultures in their unbridled journey across the globe" and that the works "reveal a kaleidoscopic snapshot of cultural migration at the turn of the century." As it happens, these are not really significant aspects of Leo? Janácek's String Quartet No. 2 ("Intimate Letters") or Ravel's String Quartet in F major, nor even of Karol Szymanowski's String Quartet No. 2, Op. 56, which does contain a folk theme or two but is, in general, one of the more dissonant works the composer produced. This aside, the program of early 20th century works is coherent. The Janácek is a deeply inward work chronicling in great programmatic detail the composer's love affair with a woman 38 years younger than he was, and the Verona Quartet, while everything is in place, does not catch its unique psychological flavor.... Read Less