harmonia nova #4 Quartet Gerhard

• Robert Schumann (1810-1856): String Quartet No. 3 in A Major, Op. 41 No. 3:
• 1 I. Andante espressivo. Allegro molto moderato 07:10
• 2 II. Assai agitato 06:10
• 3 III. Adagio molto 07:35
• 4 IV. Finale. Allegro molto vivace 07:01
• Alban Berg (1885-1935): Lyric Suite:
• 5 I. Allegretto giovale 03:10
• 6 II. Andante amoroso 06:06
• 7 III. Allegro misterioso. Trio estatico 03:21
• 8 IV. Adagio appassionato 05:12
• 9 V. Presto delirando. Tenebroso 04:37
• 10 VI. Largo desolato 05:20
• György Kurtág (1926- ): Officium breve in memoriam Andreæ Szervánszky, Op. 28:
• 11 I. Largo (In memoriam Tibor Turcsányi) 00:19
• 12 II. Più andante (In memoriam Zsolt Baranyay) 00:40
• 13 OfIII. Sostenuto, quasi giusto 00:45
• 14 IV. Grave, molto sostenuto 00:36
• 15 V. Presto (Fantasie über die Harmonien des Webern-Kanons) 00:42
• 16 VI. Molto agitato (Canon a 4) 00:17
• 17 VII. Sehr fließend [Canon a 2 (frei nach op. 31/VI von Webern)] 00:32
• 18 VIII. Lento (In memoriam Gabriella Garzó) 00:32
• 19 IX. Largo 00:50
• 20 X. Sehr fließend (Webern : Kanon a 4, op.31/VI) 01:41
• 21 XI. Sostenuto (In memoriam György Szoltsányi) 01:39
• 22 XII. Sostenuto, quasi giusto 00:44
• 23 XIII. Sostenuto, con slancio 00:48
• 24 XIV. Dispertao, vivo 00:43
• 25 XV. Larghetto [Arioso interrotto (di Endre Szervánszky)] 01:24
• Total Runtime 01:07:54

Info for harmonia nova #4

„Our quartet is a story of friendship. We know each other since our childhood and we always have shared the passion for playing music and learning.

That decided us one day, around six years ago, to make playing quartets the main endeavour of our lives - because our common ardour was strong and because the differences between our personalities make our music making more vivid.

Robert Gerhard was a Catalan composer - he was born in Valls, which is very near our birth place in Catalunya - and he was a pupil of Schoenberg at the beginning of the XXth century. Thanks to Gerhard, people like Webern, or Schoenberg himself, were visiting Barcelona very often. One can read in their correspondence how amazed they were about the city and the culture at that time, just before the civil war and fascism killed any progress in Spain.

That’s why we took the name of Gerhard, because he was a resolute man; he joined the avantgarde movement of that time and he fought for his idea of music in a way we identify with.“

Quartet Gerhard

Quartet Gerhard
Widely considered as one of the most exciting young string quartets in Europe, the Quartet Gerhard (Catalonia 2010) is distinguished for a remarkable sensitivity for the sound and an inner respect for music as the highest link between human beings. Prize-winners in all major chamber music competitions in Spain (1st Prize in the Primer Palau in Barcelona, Concurso Permanente Jeunesses Musicales Spain), the Quartet Gerhard was also finalist in the ICMC Hamburg in 2012. In 2011 they received the “Most Convincing Ensemble” prize, awarded by Jeunesses Musicales Germany at the International Chamber Music Campus at Schloss Weikersheim.

After having studied in Basel with Prof. Rainer Schmidt, they are currently under the guidance of Prof. Eberhard Feltz in Berlin. They have also worked with great teachers, such as Ferenc Rados, András Keller, Gerhard Schulz, Valentin Erben, Heime Müller, Oliver Wille and András Schiff.

They took part with great success in venues such as the Chamber Music Series Stadt- Casino Basel, Bordeaux String Quartet Festival, Mozartfest Wurzburg, Wissembourg Chamber Music Festival and the Chamber Music Series L'Auditori in Barcelona.

Surpassing their early and enthusiastic praise, Quartet Gerhard has shown, beyond all expectations, how talent and perseverance lead to success. The impeccable work of Quartet Gerhard, particularly in the sound, added to the univocal direction they have taken to becoming an established string quartet (something more than four excellent musicians playing together), explains their recognition and reach. With a critically acclaimed debut album under their belt, a good handful of reviews and a calendar of diverse concerts, Gerhard Quartet offers the 2016-2017 season, four new programmes that are evidently complex and, to a certain extent, complementary.

Repertoires aimed at taking deeper breaths from an already common, shared source. Their poetry expressed in that which is strictly musical but also in that which encases it, mature beneath the presentation of these new programmes. A path that forges ahead, towards its own horizon. All in all, exhilarating.

Booklet for harmonia nova #4