GENUIN Classics releases The Barbican Quartet – first prize winner of the ARD International String Quartet Competition 2022 extraordinary debut album – Manifesto on Love. Out on the 7th of June, 2024.
“Finely structured and virtuosically balanced… the Barbicans brought to Beethoven’s op. 59.2 the intensity and instinctiveness that the slow movement needs, while giving the other movements joy, frenzy and punch. Justifiably thunderous applause.” – Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung reviewing one of their performances at the ARD competition
As 1st prize winner of the 2022 ARD Music Competition, the Barbican Quartet is one of the most sought-after young string quartet formations. The internationally composed ensemble is now releasing its debut album on GENUIN: “Manifesto on Love”, with works by Leoš Janáček and Robert Schumann. The contrast between Schumann’s expansive musical lines and Janáček’s nervous surfaces and ecstatic outbursts could not be greater – yet the Barbican Quartet unites them as expressions of human need for love, for togetherness. Two works of the most intimate musical genre played at a phenomenal level!
About The ARD International Music Competition
It took place for the first time in 1952: the ARD International Music Competition, meanwhile one of the most renowned and large-scale competitions of its kind. It was founded by the public broadcasting radio stations of the Federal Republic of Germany, managed by Bavarian Broadcasting in Munich and takes place every year in September. For many of today’s world-famous artists, an award from the ARD International Music Competition in Munich represented a springboard to their major careers: Jessye Norman, Heinz Holliger, Christoph Eschenbach, Mitsuko Uchida, Thomas Quasthoff, Christian Tetzlaff, Peter Sadlo and the Quatuor Ebène, to name but a few.
Over the years, the ARD International Music Competition with its annually changing line-up of musicians has developed into an internationally singular and highly regarded institution. It offers not only singers and pianists but also all the other instrumentalists on the podium of an international competition, both for solo and chamber music performances. Its international appeal is based on the high artistic level of both the participants and the jury in combination with the unique opportunities that winning the prize offers to young musicians.
Since 2015, GENUIN has been awarding a special prize to a winner of their choice enabling them to produce a CD free of charge. Both this and other CDs with ARD prizewinners are released by GENUIN in the ARD Music Competition Edition.
www.ard-musikwettbewerb.de
BARBICAN QUARTET – Manifesto on Love
The album features Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No.2 “Listydůvěrné” (Intimate Letters), The Ear of Grain by Dobrinka Tabakova and two works by Robert Schumann, String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41 in A major and Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär.
Leoš Janáček: String Quar tet No. 2 “Listy důvěrné” (Intimate Letters) (1928) , Tracks: 01 – 04
“[…] Intimate Letters [is] my first composition whose notes glow with all the dear things that we’ve experienced together. You stand behind every note, you, living, forceful, loving. The fragrance of your body, the glow of your kisses – no, really of mine. But the softness of your lips. Those notes of mine kiss all of you. They call for you passionately. It’s said that they’re very fine.But everything’s still only longed for!” (Letter 632)
So wrote Leoš Janáček to his beloved Kamila Stösslová in April 1928, only months before his death. The two had maintained an eleven-year relationship, alongside their respective marriages, exchanging hundreds of fervent letters. While most of Kamila’s were burned, upon her request, the majority of Janáček’s letters remain and tell an extraordinary, albeit seemingly one-sided, love story. Janáček’s obsession is undeniable, and while we may never know whether his passion was truly reciprocated, Kamila remained his constant muse and explicit inspiration for his later works. It was to her that he dedicated his second string quartet, Intimate Letters; his ultimate love letter to Kamila, which reveals a love even more complex, obsessive, beautiful, and disturbed than the letters themselves. It is often referred to as his “Manifesto on Love“.
Dobrinka Tabakova: The Ear of Grain (2022) , Track: 05
Dobrinka Tavakova’s The Ear of Grain was commissioned in 2022 by the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Clearly intended as a playful challenge for the competing string quartets, while it is not an overtly virtuosic piece, it fully exploits the individual players’ technical command as well as the quartet’s unity and colour palette. Inspired by a Joan Miró painting of the same name depicting a close study of everyday objects, the piece hints at the painter’s early work with its rather approachable harmonic style.
As if in an inverted fairy tale, from the outset Tabakova immediately creates an almost ritualistic tension, transforming the string quartet into a breathing, accordion-like creature. A wild dance then emerges, culminates gloriously, and then fades, leaving us with a sense of hope. The title is, coincidentally, reminiscent of a Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale, The Ear of Corn. Not without humour, Tabakova quotes this tale in her foreword on the score, and leaves the interpreters to decide from which medium to draw their inspiration.
Rober t Schumann: String Quar tet No. 3, Op. 41 in A major (1842), Tracks: 06 – 09
In February 1842, Robert and Clara Schumann left their home and eight-month-old daughter to embark upon a concert tour in Germany. Clara, a celebrated soloist, was playing piano, and Schumann’s Spring Symphony was performed. Perceiving that their performances were not being received with equal enthusiasm, and missing their daughter, a homesick Robert decided to let Clara continue the tour alone while he returned. Although the separation was painful, Robert set about relieving his longing for Clara with beer, champagne, and the intensive study of string quartets by Beethoven and Mozart. Possessed by “quartettish thoughts”, he began writing his first quartet shortly after Clara’s return home, and within two months – in a typically concentrated burst of creativity – had completed three. Inspired by Felix Mendelssohn’s op. 44 quartets, he dedicated his own set of three quartets to this composer, who was not only a close friend but had a few months earlier become godfather to the Schumanns’ eldest daughter Marie.
The A major quartet is a love letter to Clara. Her name said to echo the shape of a falling fifth, is written all over it, particularly in the first movement where it is integral to every theme. All three string quartets of op. 41 follow the classical form and are almost unusually clear in structure, perhaps in reverence to Beethoven. Along with the piano quintet and quartet op. 44 and op. 74, they offer us a glimpse into Schumann’s emotional state during a particularly happy period of his life, given Clara’s return, their mutual devotion and the quiet family life which he enjoyed so much. But Robert’s happiness was never without its shadows.
From its first gesture; the Clara motif, the introduction takes us on a six-bar journey through hope, despair and, ultimately, consolation. The first theme then emerges with the same falling fifth, but transformed in major, now incomparably light and joyful. The second theme is marked by Schumann’s characteristic rhythmic tricks, an off-beat accompaniment, shadowing the soaring cello line to create an unsettled sense of anticipation. Throughout the movement there is an impression of searching, and reaching, but without ever fully arriving.
The second movement opens with an insecure Assai agitato, quickly offset by a decisive rhythmic imitation. It flows into a barcarolle-like variation recalling the pain of the opening bars of the piece, and culminates in a triumphant Tempo risoluto. The third movement suggests a moment of introspection and peace, but clouds soon gather; an inherently melancholic conversation between viola and violin, accompanied by the heartbeat pulse of the second violin, is suggestive of the romantic motto shared by Brahms and Joachim, “frei aber einsam”: free but lonely.
The fourth movement: a rondo, full of joy. The main theme contains a playful harmonic progression switching from major to minor; alternating drama and lightness in a burst of seamless bipolarity. Throughout the piece, the full expressive capacity of all four instruments is in evidence, reflecting Schumann’s belief that the string quartet is “above all, a conversation among equals, each with its own voice”.
Rober t Schumann: Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär (ca. 1840), Track: 10
In 1840, just before he and Clara married, Schumann composed over 138 songs. Before their wedding, Schumann gifted Clara a collection dedicated to her: “My beloved Clara on the eve of our wedding, from her Robert”. Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär, originally a German folk song, was composed for vocal duet and piano to the lyric version by Johann Gottfried Herder. This wordless string quartet version, cleverly arranged by our ever-resourceful violist Christoph, spreads the roles of the piano and voices seamlessly across the four instruments, creating an intimate retelling of a much loved Lied. ( Yoanna Prodanova )
If I were a little bird,
I’d come flying to you
on my two little wings.
But this I cannot do,
and so I’ll stay where I am.
Although I’m far away from you,
I’m with you in my sleep,
and talk to you!
When I awake,
I’m all by myself.
In every single hour of the night
my heart awakes
and thinks about you
who many thousand times
gave me your heart.
*** BIOs ***
© Sophie Wanninger
The Barbican Quartet
Amarins Wierdsma, Violin
Kate Maloney, Violin
Christoph Slenczka, Viola
Yoanna Prodanova, Cello
Four international musicians, four unique personalities, one string quartet. The Barbican Quartet is an original voice on the chamber music scene, delighting audiences with their intimately powerful performances and virtuosic ensemble playing.
The appointment of new second violinist, Kate Maloney, in February 2022 led to instant connection between the four musicians and the development of a distinct and luscious quality of sound, which was quickly recognized by their mentors Quatuor Ébène and Günter Pichler. A short six months later the quartet celebrated a first prize win at the 71st ARD International String Quartet Competition, also being awarded the special prize for Best Interpretation of the commissioned work by Dobrinka Tabakova, the Genuin Classics CD production special prize, the GEWA prize and the Henle Urtext prize. This incredible success follows the quartets third prize win at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in May.
The Barbican Quartet name has a dual meaning. A Barbican is a defensive wall surrounding a city or castle, which the quartet connects to their quest to discover, develop and continue the tradition of string quartet playing. The Barbican Quartet is also deeply connected to London, as it was here at the Barbican Center that the quartet had their founding concert in 2015. The founding members, Amarins, Christoph and Yoanna met at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama during their studies, first playing chamber music together for pleasure and later becoming more serious. Now the international quartet (which boasts 4 nationalities and a total of 7 languages between them) spends its time between London and Munich.
The Barbican Quartet is mentored by Günter Pichler at the Reina Sofia String Quartet Academy in Madrid, as well as the Quatuor Ébène in Hochschule für Musik München.They are guided and supported by the Belcea Quartet, Alasdair Tait, Andras Keller, and David Waterman.
The quartet won the first prize at the 2019 Joseph Joachim International Chamber Music Competition as well as the 2018 St Martin in the Fields Chamber Music Competition. They made their Wigmore Hall debut in 2017 thanks to the Maisie Lewis Award and in 2018 the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded them the Albert and Eugenie Frost Prize. The Barbican Quartet were selected as the St John Smith Square Young Artists for 2020 and were Park Lane Group artists in 2016.
The Barbican Quartet has appeared in festivals such as Peasmarsh Festival, Vibre! Quatuors à Bordeaux, Zeister Muziekdagen, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, IMS Prussia Cove and Aldeburgh. Their performances have been broadcast on BR Klassik Radio, NPO Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3. The group tours extensively in Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the USA.
String quartet playing is the most human form of artistry. It requires communication, flexibility and understanding. In a world that is becoming increasingly polarized, the Barbican Quartet is a shining example that individual differences can be celebrated and combined to create something beautiful.
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