CRITIC'S CHOICE "Credit must be given to the Fine Arts Quartet right off the bat; in assembling this album, they sidestepped the usual suspects in the Dvorak canon...Now in its 75th year, the Fine Arts Quartet has seemingly recorded everything...That’s worth quite a bit." (American Record Guide, July 2021)
"Despite the composer’s odd regret around opus 19 both works are pure joy to listen to, not least because the American Fine Arts Quartet – perform chamber music of a supreme character with a fully beautiful sound and a nice feeling for Dvořák’s musical distinctiveness." (Peter Dürrfeld, Kristeligt Dagblad, June 2021)
"Intimate, chamber-style performances capture the music’s gentle charm." Julian Haylock, The Strad, May 2021)
"Dvořák’s Adventurous Fourth Quartet Gets Solo Billing. Happily, the Fine Arts Quartet does an excellent job allowing the music to unfold on its own terms, offering sensitive, well-balanced, and timbrally vibrant playing that sustains the piece over its entire length...I can recommend this release without hesitation." (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com, April 2021)
"The three-part String Quartet No. 4, impetuous and almost wild except for the middle Andante religioso, was one of those works that Dvorak wanted to destroy in 1870, and yet parts survived so that it could be published some 100 years later in 1968. The Fine Arts Quartet plays the fast parts very passionately and grippingly. The Andante religioso, whose theme Dvorak reused in later works, is interpreted most sensitively. The final short Polonaise for cello and piano is agreeably brilliant and virtuosic." (Remy Franck, Pizzicato, April 2021)
"A most desirable release." (David Denton, David’s Review Corner, March 2021)
"The augmented Fine Arts gilded their playing with affectionate beauty. In superb recorded sound, a highly desirable release comes from Naxos." (Yorkshire Post, February 2021)
"This is an exceptionally fine recording, in places quite interesting and in others entertaining." (Lynn René Bayley, The Art Music Lounge, February 2021)
"Das dreiteilige, bis auf das mittlere Andante religioso ungestüme und fast wilde Streichquartett Nr. 4 war eines jener Werke, die Dvorak 1870 zerstören wollte, und dennoch blieben Teile erhalten, so dass es rund 100 Jahre später, 1968 veröffentlicht werden konnte. Das Fine Arts Quartet spielt die schnellen Teile sehr leidenschaftlich und zupackend. Das Andante religioso, dessen Thema Dvorak in späteren Werken wiederverwendet hat, wird gefühlvoll interpretiert. Die kurze Polonaise für Cello und Klavier beendet das Programm brillant und virtuos." (Remy Franck, Pizzicato, April 2021)