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CONCERT
Tuesday June 3, 2008

Vogler Quartett

Tim Vogler, violin
Frank Reinecke, violin
Stefan Fehlandt, viola
Stephan Forck, violonchelo

Teatro Degollado
20:30 PM

Program:

String Quartet N°52 in E flat Major Op. 64 N°6. Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
[18 min]

I-Allegro
II-Andante
II-Menuetto: Allegreto
IV- Finale. Presto

String Quartet N°4. Jörg Widmann (1973-)
[12 min]

Intermission

String Quartet Op. 59 N°2. “Razumovsky” Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
[40 min]

I-Allegro
II- Molto Adagio
Sitratta questo pezzo con molto di sentimento
III-Allegretto
IV-Finale. Presto

VOGLER QUARTETT, cuarteto de cuerdas

Starting in April of 2007 the Vogler Quartet will take over the Residency in the Musikhochschule Stuttgart from the Melos Quartet.

Founded in East Berlin in January 1985, the Vogler Quartet celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2005 with its members unchanged. They quickly established themselves as one of the finest quartets of their generation. Mastering a repertoire of over 200 works from all periods of music, they are widely characterised by their extraordinary musical intelligence, highly creative playing with homogenous sound, rich nuances, powerful interpretations and unconventional programming.

The four musicians studied at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin with Professor Eberhard Feltz as the mentor of their initial quartet playing. In May 1986 they came to international prominence through winning the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, also being awarded the critics’ prize and a special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work. They were subsequently invited to study with the renowned LaSalle Quartet in Basel, Switzerland and at the University of Cincinnati, U.S.A. In 1987 they took part in master-classes with Arnold Steinhardt (Guarneri Quartet), and Sandor Vegh. György Kurtag continues to be an inspiration to the quartet.

They now combine an extensive schedule of recitals in major music venues all over the world with a busy teaching career, which includes master classes and individual lessons. In their home city of Berlin, the Vogler Quartet began their own concert series in 1993. The “Konzerthaus” concerts provide a base for performing a comprehensive array of chamber music works to a highly appreciative audience.

In September 1999, the Vogler Quartet was designated “Quartet in Residence” in County Sligo/Ireland. The residency was a pilot project, which saw one of the world’s leading string quartets pioneer a dynamic model of musical development in County Sligo. The Vogler Quartet worked closely with local music groups, schools and educational institutions in the key areas of performance, musical education and instrumental tuition. They were also instrumental in pioneering the inaugural ESB Vogler Spring Festival, Vogler Quartet Chamber Music Master classes and the Sligo Music Series.
The Vogler Quartet increases its versatility by collaborating with other distinguished musicians in performing quintets, sextets and octets. Recent artistic partners include David Geringas, Daniel Mueller-Schott, Isabelle van Keulen, Michael Collins, Philippe Cassard and Alfredo Perl. The quartet also has a keen interest in the performance of contemporary music. They performed Morton Feldman’s 2nd string quartet (which lasts 5 hours!) with tremendous success at the MusikBiennale in Berlin in 1999. At EXPO 2000 the Vogler and Arditti Quartet played all of Wolfgang Rihm’s string quartets. The 2005/06 season includes world premieres of quartets by Frank Michael Beyer and Jörg Widmann.

Recordings with BMG/RCA-Classic include works by Bartok, Beethoven, Berg, Debussy, Janacek, Ravel and Shostakovich and the complete string quartets of Brahms and Schumann. Their first CD for Nimbus featured Max Reger’s String Quartet op.109 and Clarinet Quintet (with Karl Leister). This was followed by a disc of two quartets by Karl Amadeus Hartmann coupled with Hanns Eisler’s Quartet Op 73. In March 2005 a CD of works by Mendelssohn (string quartets op. 12, op. 44/2 as well as early unedited fugues) was released for Profil Edition Günther Hänssler. In 2006 a Schubert CD with the string quintet (with Daniel Müller-Schott) and the string quartet D 87 was highly praised by the critics. Future Hänssler recordings will include the Beethoven Razumowsky string quartets 1 and 3 and a recording of works by Jewish composers, together with Chen Halevi and Jasha Nemtsov.

REVIEWS

Their combination of technical and intellectual command reigned sovereign: in terms of lucidity, dramatic intensity and propulsive urgency, these Performances showed a mature mastery that was quite breathtaking.

The Vogler Quartet belong in the highest category of contemporary string quartets. They play with a wonderful expressive ease and warmth and possess the unteachable knack of being able to communicate everything they do directly and unaffectedly. Their performances are marvels of eloquent phrasing and subtle co-ordination, instinctive music-making of the very highest class.

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