The Daedalus Quartet is known for its work with and support of contemporary American composers, and it’s difficult to imagine these works receiving more sympathetic performances. Read More...— Terry Robbins,
Strings Attached
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... sounds both fascinating and sublime ... their pristine tone quality - neither shrill nor too sweet - evoked the delicacy and sharpness of icicles. Read More...— Susan L. Pena,
The Reading Eagle
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Daedalus Quartet presented one of the most celebrated chamber music works in the contemporary repertoire, George Crumb’s "Black Angels,"... this was as compelling as any performance in my experience ... this reading crystallized the composer’s uncanny ability to project ferocity and the beatific in the same voice. Read More...— Peter Burwasser,
The Broad Street Review
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For many, opera and Puccini are one
... it was in [Puccini's Cristantemi] that the Daedalus Quartet really reveled, creating a shimmering soundscape of almost liquid sorrow. — James Jorden,
New York Times
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"brilliant -- technically pristine and interpretively masterful. Their playing was well-balanced between finely calibrated control of their sounds and freedom of expression." Read More...— Susan L. Pena,
The Reading Eagle
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...exemplary intonation and balance ... The Daedalus players perfectly clarify [George Perle's Eighth Quartet's] complex rhythmic structure. Read More...— David Denton,
The Strad
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Technically accomplished in every way, their attention to dynamics and rhythmic phrasing ... guarantees you a disc with some unforgettable contemporary chamber music. The composer couldn't be better served! Read More...— Bob McQuiston,
Classical Lost and Found
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A strikingly unique voice ... every note, it seemed, came packed with feeling, functioning in some small way as an element in a larger musical drama ... simply stunning. Read More...— Zachary Lewis,
Cleveland Plain Dealer
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The superb young Daedalus Quartet shows a perfect grasp of Perle’s style and makes a powerful and convincing case for him as a composer of critical importance. Read More...— David Weininger,
Boston Globe
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Among the many string quartet ensembles that spring up all the time, the Daedalus String Quartet in particular possesses a youthful and buoyant sound which would make any concert of theirs enjoyable. Read More...— Nancy Plum,
Princeton Town Topics
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... fabulous playing of the members of the Daedalus Quartet ... the work itself and the performers seemed to be totally together as one. Read More...— Lyn Bronson,
Peninsula Reviews
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This latest installment of Bridge’s Lerdahl collection is delivered by the Daedalus Quartet, whose Joycean name indicates their own capacity for mind-nourishing works and gripping accounts thereof. Read More...— WQXR
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The Daedalus Quartet offered the most arresting performance of the evening ... If this kind of playing is an example of what Bridge may have in store for us over the next 30 years, the future looks bright indeed. Read More...— Christian B. Carey,
Musical America
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The Daedalus Quartet performed Haydn’s Quartet in E Flat, Op. 33, No. 2, the “Joke” ...the performance was stylish, convincing, and, when appropriate, downright funny. Read More...— Leslie Gerber,
Boston Musical Intelligencer
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The program opened with a radiant performance of one of the miracles of string quartet literature, Mozart's very last quartet, K. 590 in F major. I loved the way the players were engaged in this musical "conversation," listening to and answering each other in five-note or two-note phrases. Consoling, tender, witty, unforgettably melodic, this great work has just about everything you could want in a string quartet, and so did the performance. Read More...— Lloyd Schwartz,
Boston Phoenix
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"A cleanly argued, vital account."
— The New Yorker
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The refined but passionate Daedalus Quartet gave a riveting performance of Richard Wernick’s String Quartet No. 8, composed last year. Read More...— Zachary Woolfe,
New York Times
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"An exceptionally refined young ensemble with a translucent sound."
— The New Yorker
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This was a bustling, kinetic interpretation of Beethoven's First, but the architecture was clearly lined, and this combination of energy with respect for form was thoroughly enjoyable. Their tone was precise and their ensemble work tight, never losing control no matter how fast they rode this splendid old warhorse."
— San Diego Union-Tribune
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The four players disappeared into the music: we could practically see the work's complicated structure taking place before our very eyes, and the emphatic, repeated chords that swept us movingly through the final Allegro were done with both verve and stateliness. This was ensemble playing at its best, and Beethoven at his best."
— Threepenny Review
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"Seamless and deeply satisfying. ... Unflagging enthusiasm and depth."
— The Buffalo News
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"Imaginative and energetic."
— The New York Times
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String Quartets as philosophically like-minded as the Daedalus don't come along very often... In Haydn's String Quartet in F Major, Opus 77, No. 2. III:82, each member bent the tempos of short interloping figures so subtly you could only marvel at the finesse."
— Philadelphia Inquirer
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"One of the finest young groups to emerge in our current golden age of string quartets."
— The New Yorker
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"Insightful and vibrant."
— The New York Times
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The Daedalus musicians brought out the emotion in this work while demonstrating smooth, elegant phrasing and incredible lightness of tone. ... The finale showcased the tremendous emotional power of these musicians, from the swelling, sobbing opening to the ecstatic conclusion."
— The Cincinnati Enquirer
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Any doubts about those resources were put to rest by a hair-raising rendition of Shostakovich's Third Quartet. The group... dispensed both finesse and fury in the right proportions and showed an intuitive feel for Shostakovich's idiom, with its acid sarcasm, its tongue-in-cheek banality, and its explosive outbursts of emotion. Many groups excel at this music's expressive extremes, but the Daedalus also did a fine job tracing moments of ambiguity, in which certain instrumental lines or dance figures hover in a strange, multivalent netherworld somewhere far beyond tragedy and farce."
— The Boston Globe
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"One of the finest chamber ensembles around."
— The New York Sun
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"Among the most impressive young quartets on the international scene."
— San Jose Mercury-News
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"The Daedalus underscored the [Debussy quartet's] formal elegance with impeccable balance and articulation, while also emphasizing its elusive passion and wit through imaginative management of phrasing and dynamics."
— The New York Times
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"One of the freshest and most exciting of the younger American ensembles."
— The New Yorker
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The Daedalus Quartet seemed it was flying not on wings of waxy feathers, but rather on jet-propelled rockets of blistering virtuosity... The music rang gloriously, and the audience emerged wowed and grateful."
— The Washington Post
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"There are so many fine new string quartets and chamber ensembles today that it can be hard to keep them straight - but there's no fear of the Daedalus Quartet getting lost in the shuffle, ... Full of verve and energy. ... It was a beautifully detailed, finished performance ... both incisive and unified."
— The Seattle Times
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"They built a labyrinth of sound out of the most delicate of materials. Overall, this was splendid music-making... a fabulous performance... infectiously buoyant and exuberant."
— The New York Sun
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"Such security, technical finish, interpretive unity and sheer gusto it sounded as if these young string players had somehow been performing these works together for a good 50 or 60 years... The Daedalus members were so at-one with their composers, we were happily caught off-guard by every emotional surprise they sprang."
— The Washington Post
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"Polished and vigorous."
— The New York Times
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"A riot of joyful noise."
— The Buffalo News
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"The Daedalus Quartet is about clear, refined musicality, drawing an audience into a performance through understatement. Pretty soon, the hall is stock-still as the quartet goes about exposing the delicate inner workings of the music. ... In its best moments _ and there were a lot of them - the performance of works by Schubert, the tortured Romantic, and Gyorgy Ligeti, that harrowed soul of contemporary composition, was pretty extraordinary. It felt like a tour through hidden worlds. ... Finely cultured, authoritative yet relaxed, the group id a string quartet to keep an eye on."
— San Jose Mercury-News
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