Haydn: String Quartets Op. 76 Nos. 1-3 Chiaroscuro Quartet

• Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809): String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76 No. 1, Hob. III:75:
• 1 String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76 No. 1, Hob. III:75: I. Allegro con spirito 08:08
• 2 String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76 No. 1, Hob. III:75: II. Adagio sostenuto 06:10
• 3 String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76 No. 1, Hob. III:75: III. Menuetto 02:01
• 4 String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76 No. 1, Hob. III:75: IV. Finale 06:13
• String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76 No. 2, Hob. III:76 "Fifths":
• 5 String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76 No. 2, Hob. III:76 "Fifths": I. Allegro 09:33
• 6 String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76 No. 2, Hob. III:76 "Fifths": II. Andante o più tosto allegretto 04:48
• 7 String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76 No. 2, Hob. III:76 "Fifths": III. Menuetto 02:53
• 8 String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76 No. 2, Hob. III:76 "Fifths": IV. Finale 04:05
• String Quartet in C Major, Op. 76 No. 3, Hob. III:77 "Emperor":
• 9 String Quartet in C Major, Op. 76 No. 3, Hob. III:77 "Emperor": I. Allegro 10:10
• 10 String Quartet in C Major, Op. 76 No. 3, Hob. III:77 "Emperor": II. Poco adagio 05:51
• 11 String Quartet in C Major, Op. 76 No. 3, Hob. III:77 "Emperor": III. Menuetto 04:16
• 12 String Quartet in C Major, Op. 76 No. 3, Hob. III:77 "Emperor": IV. Finale 05:27
• Total Runtime 01:09:35

Info for Haydn: String Quartets Op. 76 Nos. 1-3

The Chiaroscuro Quartet made their first appearance on BIS with acclaimed recordings of Joseph Haydn’s Sun Quartets, Op. 20, described in The Strad as ‘period-instrument performances of the utmost subtlety and refinement’. The Op. 20 quartets are widely regarded as a milestone in the history of the genre. When Chiaroscuros now return to Haydn, it is with his last complete set of quartets, begun in 1796 when he was 64 years old. The Six String Quartets, Op. 76, form one of the most renowned of Haydn's sets of quartets and carry the stamp of their maker: No other set of eighteenth-century string quartets is so diverse, or so unconcerned with the norms of the time. In the words of Haydn’s friend and contemporary Charles Burney ‘they are full of invention, fire, good taste and new effects’. On the present disc, the first of two, we hear the first three quartets, including the ‘Fifths’ quartet (No. 2) so named after the falling perfect fifths with which it begins. The most famous of the set – and possibly of all Haydn quartets – is No. 3, however: the ‘Emperor’ quartet with its second movement: a set of variations on the ‘Kaiserlied’ which Haydn had recently composed to the greater glory of the Austrian Emperor Franz II.

Chiaroscuro Quartet

Chiaroscuro Quartet
Formed in 2005, the Chiaroscuro Quartet performs music of the Classical period with historical instruments and approach.

Recently the quartet played their first concert at the Edinburgh International Festival followed by their debut in Germany as part of the Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Highlights in the past took the young ensemble to London's Wigmore Hall, York Early Music Centre, The Sage Gateshead (recorded for BBC Radio 3), Auditorium du Louvre Paris, Théâtre du Jeu-de-Paume in Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon and a residency in Aldeburgh.

Following the critically acclaimed release of their first album in September 2011, the Chiaroscuro Quartet released its second recording for the French label Aparté in April 2013. The CD including Beethoven's Quartetto serioso, Mozart's Quartet K. 428 and Adagio and Fugue K. 546 received four out of four possible f in the French magazine Télérama and was given the best note for its interpretation in Germany's major magazine for chamber music Ensemble.

In the coming months the quartet will return to the BBC Radio 3 for a lunchtime concert in London and appear on stage of the Nikolaisaal Potsdam and Kunstverein Wiesloch. Concerts in the Netherlands (Concertgebouw Amsterdam), Belgium (Ghent, Handelsbeurs Concertzaal), France (Clermont-Ferrand and Pau) and Spain (Madrid and Bilbao) are scheduled for early 2014.

Since 2009 the Quartet has held a residency at Port-Royal-des-Champs dedicated to Mozart's quartets.

Booklet for Haydn: String Quartets Op. 76 Nos. 1-3