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★★★★★ Phibbs Quartets 2-4 CD review
“…they master these challenges with technical finesse and deepening verve in their performance, so that they intensively explore and present the life-affirming and sometimes downright lively movements, without failing to characterize the passages with lyrical warmth and rich playing.”
Remy Franck, November 2024 -
Oxford International Song Festival ★★★★★
“The finale, on Saturday at SJE Arts, opened with Gabriel Fauré’s La bonne chanson, settings of poems by Paul Verlaine for voice, piano and string quintet. Spence, joined by Julius Drake (piano), the Piatti Quartet and Leon Bosch (double bass), revelled in the delicate, impressionistic textures of the nine songs, so adored by Marcel Proust, though others thought the whole cycle, and its odd instrumentation, mad.”
Fiona Maddocks, 2nd November 2024 -
“Like Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale or Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, this quartet miraculously cohered into a satisfying whole, despite wildly differing material (Phibbs Quartet No.4 premiere). Each sharply defined movement added a vital element to the work’s cogency and sense of inevitability and the Piattis captured its various moods with poetry and a firm grasp of this composer’s warmly attractive soundworld. ….A refreshing, open-hearted account of E J Moeran’s lyrical, folksong-inflected String Quartet No 2 brought this thoroughly enjoyable, superbly played concert to an
Paul Conway, Musical Opinion, August 2024
exhilarating close.” -
“The four members of the Piatti Quartet, who have worked with Phibbs over many years, are kindred spirits, and their playing reflects this. The composer seems, in these works, to be on a quest for a sancta sanctorum. Agreeably closely recorded, the music is never overly complex, nor is it discordantly avant-garde.
If you like the music of Valentin Silvestrov, Arvo Pärt or Marjan Mozetich, be reassured: you are on a related pilgrimage with these works”
Rob Barnett, October 2024 -
“The Piatti Quartet are living treasures of chamber music. Working with them is a real joy: meticulous attention to detail is combined with strong expressive impulse and a wonderful sense of musical drama. Their performances – whether of new music or standard classics – have a freshness and vitality which sweeps audiences along with them. They love music and know how to share that love with others.”
Julian Anderson, composer, Schott Music, July 2024 -
After the winning beauty of cellist Jessie Ann Richardson in the opening theme, the group’s playing was full of drama and colour, which could turn on an instant into caressed, limpid lyricism. The musicians skilfully negotiated the great musical patchwork of the ‘Dumka’, from fervent expression to easy-going song. The Scherzo was light and effervescent, and the finale drove onwards, with some sparkling staccato. This was a multifaceted performance of lightness, profundity, power and charm….Boyle’s E minor Quartet is a beautiful piece, certainly worthy of attention, although, as the Piatti Quartet’s leader Michael Trainor said, even these musicians have had few chances to perform it live. The first of its three movements, Allegro moderato, shows some affinity to Vaughan Williams, mournful and not quite pentatonic, with open textures. The long lines of its Adagio were wonderfully sustained and nicely shaped, natural, understated and affecting. The short final Allegro molto was dancing and energetic.
Tim Homfray, The Strad, May 2024 -
We are delighted to have received an award from Presto Music for our ‘Ina Boyle et al’ CD as one of their ‘Top Ten Recordings of the Year.’ Presto Music categorised these as ‘albums which really made us listen afresh to core repertoire, told absorbing stories through their imaginative programming, or made compelling cases for music that was new to us all…’
Chris O’Reilly, Presto Music -
5* Review:
“Shroud (his third quartet) and Winter’s Edge (fourth), performed here with passionate dexterity by the Piatti Quartet…..In the capable hands of the Piatti, it’s suffused with energy and purpose: from keening unisons to nervy pizzicatos; thick, splintering counterpoint and aggressive down-bows that feel like repeated blows to the body.”
Steph Power, BBC Music Magazine, June 2023 -
“Shroud was written for the celebrated Emerson Quartet…it would be unfair to view the present rendition as in any way second best…all (movements) are characterised with unswerving commitment…again the eloquence is striking. Recommended.”
David Gutman, Gramophone Magazine, June 2023 -
“The Piatti Quartet brings to this repertoire a passion, sympathy and a carefully balanced ensemble sense guaranteed to make each composer shine…Boyle’s Quartet in its premiere recording fascinates the most, with its mix of lean textures, carefully wrought argument and moments of lyrical magic from a soaring violin flying high over fluttering notes below.”
Geoff Brown, BBC Music Magazine, May 2023, Boyle, Moeran, RVW, Ireland review -
“The Piatti Quartet players- named best performers of Contusion at the 2015 Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition- give a superbly eloquent, passionate account, painfully fragile but still hard-edged.”
David Kettle, May 2023, NMC Contusion Review -
“..they completely convince me of its worth (Boyle). That playing, and the music itself, they exemplify stillness (mvt 2)…incredibly moving…and this glorious recording proves the truth of RVW’s words.” (that recognition would come finally for Boyle)
Natasha Loges, February 2023 -
..’their performance exudes passion and love for the music.” (Boyle Quartet)
..the Piatti Quartet play with open affection and a real grasp of the depths that lie beneath these scores..”
..’they are beautifully recorded…neither (two comparable recordings) get close to the affected yearning of the Piattis..”
David McDade, January 2023 -
…”pleasing assurance, innate good taste and strong poetic instinct…make no mistake, this is a most gratifying discovery. (Ina Boyle Quartet).
“How good, too, to be able to welcome such a sympathetic and stylish version of EJ Moeran’s E flat Quartet…”
“These conspicuously poised performers are likewise wholly attuned to the flowing grace and inventive flair of RVW’s Household Music…”
“…deeply felt account of John Ireland’s ‘The Holy Boy.’
“All told, a delightful issue, and absolutely not to be missed.”
Andrew Achenbach, March 2023 -
”..all played with pristine neatness and accuracy…The third movement, Adagio molto e mesto, unfolded as a great arch of profound music making, with a breathless hymn-like opening and some wonderfully soft playing.”
Tim Homfray, The Strad, December 2022 -
…love the enviable hush and unruffled poise Julius Drake and the Piatti Quartet bring to the devastatingly moving ‘From far, from eve and morning…’
Nicky Spence and colleagues serve up a nourishing feast of vocal music, culminating in a performance of On Wenlock Edge which, in its thrilling assurance, strength of imagination and rapt instinct, inclines me to rank it among the very finest I know.
Andrew Achenbach -
Magically done by all, as is the whole disc…
Fiona Maddocks, April 2022 (On Wenlock Edge, Hyperion CD review) -
“…Superbly executed by a tightly reciprocal ensemble…” (Ekstasis, Gavin Higgins, CD Review) 4.5*
“…The Piatti Quartet creating a haunting, hazy landscape through which to catch Drake’s variously peeling chimes…desert island stuff.” (RVW ‘On Wenlock Edge’ CD review) 5*
Michael Quinn and Clive Paget respectively 2022 -
Here, they offer an illuminating recital of British works, including two recorded premieres. Both trios of pre-war miniatures by Bridge and Britten are superbly done. The Piatti demonstrate their acute sensitivity to mood and texture right from the first of Bridge’s Idylls… As with the other works on the programme, the Piatti play [the Turnage] with absolute authority and conviction. A most enterprising and rewarding programme.
Andrew Farach-Colton -
From soothing pastorale to euphoric rock anthem, this excellent album traces an intriguing path through modern British works for quartet…The Piatti Quartet are on ferociously fine form…
Kate Wakeling, 4 December 2018 -
More satisfying was the earlier concert in Orford Church from the young Piatti string quartet. They gave a delightfully soft-grained performance of Haydn’s Bird Quartet, and a hugely intense one of Beethoven’s Quartetto Serioso, with two contemporary pieces in between. Simon Holt’s Fourth Quartet Cloud House, here receiving its world premiere, conjured an imaginary walk through a real-life abandoned house on a Welsh mountain
Ivan Hewett, Aldeburgh Festival review, June 2018 -
A young ensemble at its finest…To Mendelssohn’s final quartet, the F minor, this splendid young ensemble brought lyrical warmth and a gripping urgency.
Barry Millington, 4 April 2018 -
At Headington school hall, the youthful Piatti Quartet, with Ann Beilby (viola) and Guy Johnston (cello), gave a dashing and sensuous account of Brahms’s String Sextet No 2, Op 36, pizzicato cellos and murmuring violas offsetting the rhythmic bite of upper strings.The soprano Alice Privett, stepping in at very short notice, was a faultless soloist in Zemlinsky’s scarcely known and voluptuous short work for voice and string sextet, Maiblumen blüten überall.
Fiona Maddocks, Oxford Lieder Festival, 4 October 2017