Pennies from Heaven Mandelring Quartett

• Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962):
• 1 Miniature Viennese March 03:07
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791):
• 2 String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, K. 156: I. Presto 03:01
• Arthur Johnston (1898 - 1954):
• 3 Pennies from Heaven 04:02
• Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904):
• 4 Waltz in A Major, Op. 54 No. 1 03:30
• Mariano Mores (1918 - 2016):
• 5 Cafetin de Buenos Aires 03:34
• Félicien David (1810 - 1876):
• 6 String Quartet in A Major: Scherzo. Allegretto 03:18
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
• 7 String Quartet No. 1 in G Major, K. 80: I. Adagio 04:08
• Alexander Borodin (1833 - 1887):
• 8 String Quartet No. 2 in D Major: II. Scherzo. Allegro 04:51
• Enrique Francini (1916 - 1978):
• 9 La vi Llegar 03:10
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893):
• 10 String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11: II. Andante Cantabile 06:24
• Leroy Anderson (1908 - 1975):
• 11 The Syncopated Clock 02:06
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975):
• 12 The Golden Age, Op. 22: Polka (Allegretto) 02:10
• Antonín Dvořák:
• 13 String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96 'American': II. Lento 06:09
• Stevie Wonder (b. 1950):
• 14 Sir Duke 02:55
• Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809):
• 15 String Quartet in C Major, Op. 33 No. 3 'The Bird': IV. Finale: Rondo - Presto 02:58
• Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (1806 - 1826):
• 16 String Quartet No. 1 in D Minor: III. Menuetto 03:16
• Héctor Varela (1914 - 1958):
• 17 El 58 02:54
• William C. Handy (1873 - 1956):
• 18 St. Louis Blues 04:45
• Leroy Anderson:
• 19 Fiddle-Faddle 03:30
• Total Runtime 01:09:48

Info for Pennies from Heaven

Favourites from the Mandelring Quartett’s inexhaustible repertoire: Mozart’s very first string quartet meets classics of Tango Argentino; Haydn’s radiant “Bird” string quartet appears alongside Stevie Wonder’s top hit Sir Duke, Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile and the famous St. Louis Blues. This iridescent kaleidoscope presents the Mandelring Quartett at their most personal.

"Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven. Don't you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven?You'll find your fortune's fallin' all over the town. Be sure that your umbrella is upside down. Trade them fora package of sunshine and flowers..." (from: Lyrics to Pennies from Heaven by Johnny Burke)

Small treasures, as promised by the song Pennies from Heaven in the eponymous 1936 film with Bing Crosby, are assembled on the latest release from the Mandelring Quartett: favourites, individual movements and encores which the Mandelring Quartett regularly play in concert, but also works which don't fit into - or at the end of - standard concert programmes and are therefore presented on this album. Whether classical or non-classical, original works or felicitous arrangements for string quartet: all pieces are much loved by the ensemble. After spending weeks searching through their music archives, accumulated over more than thirty years, and sifting out the highlights from a huge body of works, the Mandelring Quartett now present a colourful mixture of miniatures from diverse genres across the centuries. They include rarely played compositions of the classical repertoire, such as a movement from the very first string quartet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; pieces which the Mandelring Quartett like to play as encores, such as the Allegretto, which Dmitri Shostakovich distilled from his ballet The Golden Age; tango classics such as Cafetín de Buenos Aires, stylishly arranged by Werner Thomas-Mifune; earworm candidates such as the Andante cantabile from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's String Quartet in D major; trouvailles such as the adaptation of the St. Louis Blues, which the violinist Sebastian Schmidt discovered whilst on tour in the US when he visited a music shop in Los Angeles in order to buy a music stand because his suitcase had been lost.

This compilation combines "Pennies from Heaven" from highly diverse musical spheres into a musical treasure trove - and at the same time presents the Mandelring Quartett at their most personal.

Mandelring Quartett

Mandelring Quartett
The Mandelring Quartet’s remarkable homogeneity of sound, intonation and phrasing has become its distinguishing characteristic; four individuals who play as one in their shared determination to always seek out the innermost core of the music and remain open to the musical truth. By grasping the spiritual dimension, exploring the emotional extremes and working on the details, these musicians probe far beneath the surface of each work, thus revealing the multiplicity of meanings inherent in each. Their approach to the music is always both emotional and personal. All this combines to make the Mandelring Quartet one of the most high-profile ensembles on the international chamber music scene.

As winners of several major international competitions – Munich (ARD), Evian and Reggio Emilia (Premio Paolo Borciani) – the Mandelring Quartet has emerged as one of the important string quartets of today, appearing at the world's great concert venues. In addition to numerous performances in Germany, the Mandelring Quartet's concert tours have taken them throughout Europe – Amsterdam, Brus­sels, London, Madrid, Paris and Vienna – annually to North America – New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Vancouver – to Japan – Osaka and Tokyo – Central and South America – Buenos Aires, Lima, Montevideo – the Middle East and Asia.

The Mandelring Quartet has enjoyed highly successful appearances at the Rheingau Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and other important international festivals such as Lockenhaus, Montpellier, Montreal, Ottawa, the Engadiner Konzertwochen in Switzerland and the Salzburg Festival, where they have been invited to present complete cycle of Shostakovich string quartets in summer 2011.

The Quartet's CD recordings have received numerous awards. Numbering more than two dozen, they include a Schubert string quartet cycle, piano quintets by Brahms and Franck and a series "Brahms and his Contemporaries", selected by the Strad Magazine as CD Of The Month saying: “Here the Mandelring combine the LaSalle Quartet’s intellectual vigor with the Amadeus’ unbridled passion to provide the best of both worlds.” Their recordings of the string quartets of Shostakovich have been hailed by the press as one of the outstanding complete recordings of our time. “The direct comparison I've done puts the Mandelring Quartet's cycle up with the best. If I were to shed all but two cycles, I would keep the Borodin cycle and the Mandelring Quartet.” (Fanfare). The CD with Schumann’s Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet has been praised as the new reference recording, and their recent disc of String Quartets by Leoš Janác(ek has received the German Record Critics' Prize.

The HAMBACHERMusikFEST, the quartet’s own festival, provides a meeting place each year for lovers of chamber music from all over the world. Since 2010 the Mandelring Quartet has presented a regular series of concerts at the Kammermusicsaal of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Booklet for Pennies from Heaven