memento vision string quartet

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden":
• 1String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": I. Allegro10:57
• 2String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": II. Theme -02:16
• 3String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": II. Variation 1 -02:01
• 4String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": II. Variation 2 -02:08
• 5String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": II. Variation 3 -01:41
• 6String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": II. Variation 4 -02:10
• 7String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": II. Variation 5 & Coda02:52
• 8String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": III. Scherzo & Trio03:44
• 9String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden": IV. Presto08:58
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847): String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80, MWV R37:
• 10String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80, MWV R37: I. Allegro vivace assai - Presto07:11
• 11String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80, MWV R37: II. Allegro assai04:28
• 12String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80, MWV R37: III. Adagio08:01
• 13String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80, MWV R37: IV. Finale (Allegro molto)05:40
• Total Runtime01:02:07

Info for memento

It is quite a surprise for a dynamic young string quartet to make its recording debut with an album, memento, which takes mortality and death as its theme … But the members of the vision quartet (as that lower-case ‘v’ indicates) like to do things a little differently. The prizewinning Berlin-based players, who appear at major halls and festivals in Europe, North America and Japan, have chosen two works by composers who died in their thirties: Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet, and Mendelssohn’s Quartet No 6, written as a memorial to his sister, Fanny.

"...amazingly vivacious, vivid and electrifying... the hot-blooded guys from the vision string quartet seem to be completely fearless” (Der Tagesspiegel)

Jakob Encke, violin
Daniel Stoll, violin
Leonard Disselhorst, cello
Sander Stuart, viola

vision string quartet
Founded in 2012 and based in Berlin, the vision string quartet has already established itself as one of the finest young string quartets of its generation. With a unique versatility that focuses on the classical string quartet repertoire alongside their own compositions and arrangements of other disparate genres, the four young musicians are on a mission to re-address with integrity how classical music is presented and perceived by both new and traditional audiences. Their distinctive characteristics of performing all their concerts completely from memory and standing up lend its performances an added intimacy and intensity which has been widely praised.

2016 was a year of remarkable achievement for the Quartet as they achieved not only first prize in two major competitions but all the audience and special prizes too. Adding to their successes at Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in Berlin at the beginning of the year and at the International Concours de Génève at the end of the year, they were also awarded the prestigious Würth Prize in November 2016, only a month after they had received the audience prize at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. In 2018 they were awarded the prestigious chamber music prize of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation.

The young quartet experiments with innovative concert formats which they have brought to leading classical concert halls such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Konzerthaus Berlin and Philharmonie Luxembourg as well as to prestigious festivals including the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Heidelberg Frühling and the Lucerne Festival. They have hosted concerts in complete darkness, have collaborated on projects with renowned ballet dancer and choreographer John Neumeier and worked together with lighting designers to bring further creative dimensions to their performances.

The 2018/19 season includes the quartet’s UK debut with concerts at the Wigmore Hall, Sage Gateshead and a BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert live from Perth Concert Hall in Scotland. They will play at Amici della Musica in Florence, undertake a tour of Israel with performances in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa and appear in Copenhagen at the Danish String Quartet’s Series of 4. Concerts in Germany include performances at the Berlin Philharmonie, Cologne Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie Essen, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Bremen’s Die Glocke. The quartet also start an association with Flagey Concert Hall in Brussels, which will see them perform several concerts across the next three seasons including appearances at the Klara and Musiq'3 Festivals.

The Quartet has studied in Berlin under the Artemis Quartet and Günter Pichler of the Alban Berg Quartet at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. In addition, they have received tuition from teachers such as Heime Müller, Eberhardt Feltz and Gerhard Schulz, as well as participating in masterclasses at the Jeunesses Musicales, ProQuartet in France and the Foundation Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz where they were scholarship holders.

Chamber music partners include Jörg Widmann, Eckart Runge from the Artemis Quartet, Haiou Zhang, Edicson Ruiz, Avi Avital, Nils Mönkemeyer and the Quatuor les Dissonances.

Booklet for memento