Solitude: Mendelssohn, Weinberg & Shostakovich Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847): String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80:
• 1 String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80: I. Allegro vivace assai 06:45
• 2 String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80: II. Allegro assai 04:27
• 3 String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80: III. Adagio 07:42
• 4 String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80: IV. Finale 05:12
• Josquin des Prez (1455 - 1521): Mille regretz:
• 5 Mille regretz 01:56
• Mieczysław Weinberg (1919 - 1996): String Quartet No. 3, Op. 14:
• 6 String Quartet No. 3, Op. 14: I. Presto 07:29
• 7 String Quartet No. 3, Op. 14: II. Andante sostenuto 08:08
• 8 String Quartet No. 3, Op. 14: III. Allegretto 04:51
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): Two Pieces for String Quartet:
• 9 Two Pieces for String Quartet: I. Elegy 04:52
• Carlo Gesualdo (1566 - 1613): Moro Lasso:
• 10 Moro Lasso 03:10
• Total Runtime 54:32

Info for Solitude: Mendelssohn, Weinberg & Shostakovich

For their third album for the Resonus Classics label, the acclaimed Dudok Quartet Amsterdam releases a new recording based around the theme of solitude.

Recently announced as recipients of a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Award for 2018, the quartet presents a varied programme inspired by loss and feelings of loneliness, such as Mendelssohn’s Op. 80 ‘Requiem for Fanny’ and music by the isolated Soviet composers, Shostakovich and Weinberg who both sacrificed much in pursuit of their art.

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam:
Judith van Driel, 1st violin
Marleen Wester, 2nd violin
Marie-Louise de Jong, viola
David Faber, cello

The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam
is one of the most versatile and appealing string quartets of this time. The quartet’s aim is to share the heart of music through captivating performances and an open approach of the audience.

In June of 2013, the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam has finished their studies at the Dutch String Quartet Academy with highest distinction. In November of 2014 the Dudok Quartet was awarded the Kersjesprize, an award annually given to an ensemble of exceptional talent in the Dutch chamber music scene. The quartet furthermore received top prizes in various international string quartet competitions in Bordeaux (Concours international quatuor à cordes), Weimar (Internationaler Joseph Joachim Kammermusikwettbewerb), The Netherlands (Charles Hennen Competition/Orlando Competition) and Poland (Radom first international string quartet competition)

The members of the quartet first met in the Ricciotti Ensemble, a Dutch street symphony orchestra. The ensemble was founded in 2009. During the first two years since then, the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam studied with the Alban Berg Quartett at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. After that, they studied with Marc Danel at the Dutch String Quartet Academy. Further important artistic impulses came from Eberhard Feltz, Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet), Luc-Marie Aguera (Quatuor Ysaÿe) and Stefan Metz.

Many well-known contemporary classical composers, such as Kaija Saariaho, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Calliope Tsoupaki and Max Knigge worked with the quartet on their music. In 2014, the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam has signed for several recordings with Resonus Classics, the world’s first solely digital classical music label. Both their first two albums, combining string quartet core repertoire by Haydn and Mozart with both string quartets by György Ligeti and world premieres of the ensembles own arrangements, have been received with unanimous praise in international press reviews including an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine. 2016 saw the premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Only the Sound remains, featuring the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam in a leading role accompanying the world-renowned countertenor Philippe Jaroussky.

The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam has performed with many renowned guest musicians such as recorder player Erik Bosgraaf, pianists Alexei Lubimov, Hannes Minnaar, Ralph van Raat and Daria van den Bercken, and cellists Pieter Wispelwey, Dmitri Ferschtman and Quirine Viersen. The Dudok Quartet Amsterdam performed at many prestigious festivals and venues throughout Europe and in the United States of America, such as the Grachten Festival, the Orlando Festival, Festival Quatuors à Bordeaux and Festival Jeunes Talents (France), Carinthischer Sommer and the Vienna Konzerthaus (Austria), Haydn Festival Fertöd (Hungary), Davos Festival (Switzerland), the Linari Classic Festival (Italy) and the Léon Chamber Music Festival and Festival Música en Segura (Spain), Winter Chamber Music Festival (Il, USA)

Willem Marinus Dudok (1884 – 1974) was a famous Dutch architect. He was also a great lover of music: he came from a musical family and composed music in his spare time. “I owe more to composers than I owe to any architect”, he wrote. “I feel deeply the common core of music and architecture: after all, they both derive their value from the right proportions.”

This album contains no booklet.