Cuarteto Casals

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cuarteto Casals (2018).

The Cuarteto Casals is a Catalan classical string quartet founded in 1997 . The quartet is named after the Catalan cellist Pau Casals . The Spanish-German violinist Vera Martínez Mehner (* 1978 Madrid) and the brothers Abel (* 1980 in Barcelona), violin, and Arnau Tomàs i Realp (* 1973 in Barcelona), cello, founded Reina in 1997 while they were still studying at the Musikhochschule Reina Sofía the quartet in Madrid, whose violist has been the American Jonathan Brown (* 1974 in Chicago) since 2002 . The musicians deepened their chamber music trainingWalter Levin , the leader of the LaSalle String Quartet and with the Alban Berg Quartet . The Cuarteto Casals is now based in Barcelona. All four musicians hold a teaching position at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya . The quartet is one of the "Big Five" of international string quartets. The formation is known as "the quartet of the new millennium." The Cuarteto Casals has been named the official cultural ambassador of Catalonia by the Generalitat de Catalunya , among others .

Development and work of the quartet

Just a few years after its founding, the Cuarteto Casals was showered with prizes and quickly established itself as one of the leading younger string quartets worldwide. In 2000 the quartet won the London String Quartet Competition and in 2002 the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Hamburg. Since then, the quartet has performed in the most prestigious concert halls in the world, such as Carnegie Hall , the Cologne Philharmonic , the Cité de la Musique Paris , the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg , the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and many other places.

“The quartet has a remarkable discography of 12 CDs so far with the music label harmonia mundi . The repertoire ranges from lesser-known Spanish composers such as Arriaga and Toldrà to the Viennese classics Mozart , Haydn , Schubert and Brahms to greats of the 20th century such as Debussy , Ravel and Zemlinsky , as well as a live recording on Blu-Ray of Schubert's collected quartets New records. In 2018, the first of a three-edition recording of Beethoven's quartets was published on harmonia mundi and received praiseworthy reviews. The second CD box will be released in 2019; the third finally in 2020 for the composer's 250th birthday. "

An award from the Burletti-Buitoni Foundation in London enabled the Casals Quartet to set up a collection of arches that are true to the Baroque and Classical epochs. On the basis of this variety of bows, the musicians can play works from Purcell to Schubert and further refine their ability to interpret the different musical styles in a particularly characteristic way. The collaboration with living composers, above all with György Kurtág , has shaped the Cuarteto Casals intensively. It also played the world premieres of quartets by leading Spanish composers, including a new concerto for string instruments and orchestra by Francisco Coll , which was premiered with the Orquesta Nacional de España .

In recognition of its unique contribution to the cultural life in Catalonia and Spain as a whole, Cuarteto Casals has been appointed cultural ambassador for the region by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, the Ramon Llull Institute and the Ministry of Culture in Barcelona. In the past it has also received awards such as the Premio Nacional de Música , the Premi Nacional de Cultura de Catalunya and the Premi Ciutat Barcelona .

Every year the quartet gives a concert in the Royal Palace in Madrid on the extraordinary collection of Stradivari's string instruments. In 2020 there will be an artist residence here.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Igor Cat, 2018
  2. ^ Elbphilharmonie Hamburg: Cuarteto Casals. March 16, 2018, archived from the original on October 7, 2018 ; accessed on October 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b Cuarteto Casals: Cuarteto Casals. Archived from the original on May 30, 2020 ; accessed on October 7, 2018 .