14 string quartets in a week
mainWe like the sound of the first string quartet biennale in Amsterdam, taking place next January.
Here are the participants:
• Brentano String Quartet (USA)
• Cuarteto Casals (ESP)
• Quartetto di Cremona (IT)
• Quatuor Danel (BE)
• DoelenKwartet (NL)
• Doric String Quartet (UK)
• Dudok Kwartet (NL)
• Emerson String Quartet (USA)
• Hagen Quartett (AT)
• O/Modernt String Quartet (SWE)
• Cuarteto Quiroga (ESP)
• Ragazze Quartet (NL)
• Ruysdael Kwartet (NL)
• Signum Quartett (DE)
Wow! That’s quite a line up.
Hmm. Just about every string quartet out there is in this list – except the Danish Quartet, which is the one in your picture.
Not quite. There are only 3 members of The Danish String Quartet (the violist and the 2 violinists) in the picture, together with all four members of the Doric String Quartet (which is on the list).
They’re missing the star new-music quartets from the States: the JACK Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, ETHEL. Not to mention the great St. Lawrence String Quartet from the Great White North.
(At this point, in 2017, I can’t really blame the biennale for passing on the Kronos Quartet.)
I would include the Dover and the Artemis SQs.
And Germany’s Armida quartet!
The Escher Qt would be a welcome addition.
Great line up! Of course many more could also be there but so good to see Cuarteto Quiroga! It is still surprising for many of us who have had the chance to listen to this outstanding ensemble that they do not have a larger career! By far of the best concerts I ever witnessed…
Never mind 14 string quartets (ensembles) in a week. On 2 February they have scheduled a concert comprising 11 string quartets (works), by Beethoven, Britten and Shostakovich, to be played by three ensembles. It starts at 1900 and is due to end at 0130 the following morning. They have dubbed the concert ‘the impossible voyage’ – can’t think why..
No period-instrument quartets?
Tsk.