REVIEWS
"The new Juilliard puts its own original stamp on core repertoire... If you have ever wondered whether we really need another recording of the 'American' Quartet, the answer is yes, we need this one. The new Juilliard’s recording is a miracle of contrasting color and gorgeously exciting rubato, and their playing makes an old warhorse young again." – STRINGS MAGAZINE, July/August 2021 Issue >
"The Julliard Quartet’s exemplary stylistic differentiation, their superb attention to detail, and a sensitivity to the balance, truly shone." – THE BOSTON MUSICAL INTELLIGENCER, January 14, 2020 >
"What particularly stood out in this performance was the way in which this diversified foursome is reclaiming some of the old Juilliard Quartet verve, bringing an assertive, even intense musicality to works by Beethoven and Kúrtag." – STRINGS MAGAZINE, December 17, 2019 >
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"Zhulla has clearly settled in nicely, and played in absolute empathy with her colleagues... In the opening Allegro [of Beethoven's Op. 18, No. 3] the players were robust and vigorous, with some sinuous legato, and the Andante con moto had many colours and moods, sometimes jaunty, sometimes rich, with some good spiky staccato." – THE STRAD, April 2019 issue
"Decisive and uncompromising...Juilliard’s confidently thoughtful approach, rhythmic acuity and ensemble precision were on full display." – WASHINGTON POST, February 7, 2019
"In a delightfully fresh and richly sonorous account of Beethoven’s String Quartet in D Op.18 No.3 – the first he ever wrote – the players injected just the right element of playfulness in the opening Allegro. The wistful Andante con moto was taken at perfect speed and contained passages of great serenity, contrasting perfectly with the joyfully brisk canter of the third movement Allegro. Fizzing with energy, the final Presto was a particular pleasure, and would surely have brought a smile to the lips of Beethoven’s teacher and mentor Haydn, whose influence so characterises this early work." – SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL, January 18, 2019 >
"The playing was excellent...This Juilliard performance was full of smiles, rhythmically alive and much appreciated by the audience." – CLASSICAL SOURCE, January 15, 2019 >
"Executed as by the unfailing hands of surgeons, over the course of the evening, the Juilliard String Quartet performed with barely containable ardor—that at moments impelled their bodies to rise upward from the benches and chairs they sat upon—displaying unparalleled artistry, effortlessly laying claim to a shared sovereignty as one of the world’s finest." – TUCSON WEEKLY, December 11, 2018 >
"Certainly the ensemble’s famed rhythmic precision and keen feeling for instrumental balance remains firmly in place, as does its ability to “play hard” without any unpleasant roughness of tone, but Zhulla also brought to her solos, especially in the slow movement of the “American” Quartet, a welcome degree of passion and spontaneity too. It sounds like she’ll make a fine addition to the team." – CLASSICS TODAY, November 19, 2018 >
"The Juilliard still plays, magically, like a single four-voiced instrument, and the music it makes sounds like the most natural and inevitable thing in the world." - BROAD STREET REVIEW, May 2, 2017 >
"The Great Fugue, however, was what everyone seemed to be waiting for, and here the quartet seemed genuinely possessed by Beethoven's radical and grinding dissonance. Even now, as in its day, the music threatens to explode the concept of the string quartet, and the mighty efforts of the Juilliard players Tuesday to bring to life this propulsive, shattering music were nothing short of heroic." - THE PLAIN DEALER, December 9, 2016 >
"Every detail, from technical virtuosity to balance, is set nakedly in front of the listener. And each of these hurdles, big and small, were navigated with grace by these four fine players. The music pulsed and sang. This was a deeply burnished performance that captured the full emotional spectrum while also displaying ensemble playing that would be hard to surpass." - MUSICAL TORONTO, October 14, 2016 >
"The group was endlessly agile in the twists of Carter’s quartet, defined by its myriad, complex shifts of tempo. Lively dances suddenly opened into rhapsodic yearning; a moody dialogue between cello and viola was interrupted by hovering, glassy high tones in the violins (Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes). Sudden floods of spidery runs and bursts of quivering energy were like sparks popping from a fire in a desert night."
- THE NEW YORK TIMES, November 24, 2015 >
"The Juilliard String Quartet can plausibly be called the most important American quartet in history... the performances of Webern and Berg were sensational. I have never heard Webern’s Five Movements (Op. 5) sound so complete — structurally, emotionally, musically. The Juilliard adroitly captured the bits of Viennese nostalgia hiding in Webern’s epigrammatic phrases, and virtually every moment — the slashing energy of the third movement, the desolation of the fourth — was charged with electricity... The performance united X-ray clarity among the parts, technical precision, and sheer passion, an amalgam it is hard to imagine being bettered... Some groups seem to wrestle with their past and legacy; the Juilliard seems completely revitalized. ...It may be just hitting its stride.“ - THE BOSTON GLOBE, October 19, 2014 >
“The Juilliard Quartet delivered the full drama laden within the score, coloring the swirling lines of the first movement with burnished tone and crafting each lyrical phrase with spellbinding focus. They dug in for the more aggressive music that fills the second of the two movements, the lines radiating with a mahogany ensemble quality that rang full in every register... The performance was superb, the interpretation as clear as a country creek.“ - BOSTON CLASSICAL REVIEW, October 19, 2014 >
“Everything about the Juilliard’s traversal of the great “Death and the Maiden” Quartet was beautiful in sound, impeccable in rhythm and ensemble, and richly dramatic.“- SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL, October 25, 2014 >
“Sony’s new two-CD set adds a 2013 recording of Carter’s Fifth Quartet to the earlier four, and there are personnel changes, too, with Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes replacing Robert Mann and Joel Smirnoff on violins. It’s a truly beautiful performance, both witty and poignant, and captured in close, analytical sound.“