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String Quartets K. 169 - 464 - 589
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Armida Quartet

String Quartets K. 169 - 464 - 589

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085533183
Catnr: AVI 8553318
Release date: 14 August 2015
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Label
CAvi
UPC
4260085533183
Catalogue number
AVI 8553318
Release date
14 August 2015
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

An adventure for their anniversary: Mozart!

Every string quartet dreams of having its own Mozart cycle: for its 10th anniversary in 2016, the Armida Quartet plans to perform all 23 works in public. The composer was part of each one of their lives long before the ensemble was formed. Playing in orchestras, in chamber music and in solo recitals, the Armida Quartet’s future members already got to know and love Mozart.

In their complete Mozart series, the quartet will not be presenting the string quartets in chronological order. Instead, in each recital, they will place Mozart, the young Wunderkind, alongside the mature composer; the carefree creator alongside the brooding master. “We want to show how modern his thinking was for his time. Many people have a fixed image of Mozart in their minds, as a musician who painted an ideal world with beautiful melodies. But inside, he was burning, struggling, seeking”, as 2nd violinist Johanna Staemmler contends.

Thus the Armida Quartet’s first Mozart CD features a selection of three works from different creative periods.

Artist(s)

Armida Quartet

ARMIDA QUARTETT Martin Funda Violin Johanna Staemmler Violin Teresa Schwamm Viola Peter-Philipp Staemmler Cello A triumph, both technically and musically. BBC Music Magazine, March 2021 Winning the ARD International Competition in 2012 (also sweeping all other prizes including the audience prize) propelled the Armida Quartet on to the international concert platform. After concerts and radio recordings as BBC New Generation Artists (2014-16) and subsequently as ECHO Rising Stars (2016/17), the musicians have established themselves as regular guests in the best-known chamber music halls in Europe, Asia, and the USA. In addition to regular appearances at European festivals such as the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Rheingau Musik Festival, the quartet has enjoyed great success at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, and London‘s Wigmore Hall, among others. Acclaimed for their musical unity, which is evident in...
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ARMIDA QUARTETT Martin Funda Violin Johanna Staemmler Violin Teresa Schwamm Viola Peter-Philipp Staemmler Cello A triumph, both technically and musically. BBC Music Magazine, March 2021 Winning the ARD International Competition in 2012 (also sweeping all other prizes including the audience prize) propelled the Armida Quartet on to the international concert platform. After concerts and radio recordings as BBC New Generation Artists (2014-16) and subsequently as ECHO Rising Stars (2016/17), the musicians have established themselves as regular guests in the best-known chamber music halls in Europe, Asia, and the USA.
In addition to regular appearances at European festivals such as the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Rheingau Musik Festival, the quartet has enjoyed great success at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, and London‘s Wigmore Hall, among others.
Acclaimed for their musical unity, which is evident in their fine-tuned sound and timing as well as their shared breaths, the musicians also emphasise their commitment to quartet playing with their choice of ensemble name: Armida refers to an opera by the composer Joseph Haydn, who is considered the „father of the string quartet“. They studied with former members of the Artemis Quartet and with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet); they owe further important impulses to Reinhard Goebel, Alfred Brendel, Marek Janowski, and Tabea Zimmermann.
The Armida Quartet places a special focus on the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The recently released third album of the on-going complete recordings of his string quartets for CAvi Records was praised as „musically ravishing and sonically (...) exemplary“, and described as ground-breaking for Mozart interpretation in the 21st century (Klassik Heute 1/2021).
The ensemble pursues its passion for Mozart, among other things, in its own concert series Mozart Exploded, in which each of the composer‘s string quartets are combined with masterpieces of contemporary music and occasionally presented in experimental concert formats in Berlin.
The series has already been enthusiastically received in New York as well. In addition, the young musicians have cooperated with G. Henle Verlag, for whom they act as musical advisors for the new Urtext edition of the Mozart quartets, including their own fingerings and bowings made available for the associated Henle Library App. In doing so, the quartet is not only at the forefront of the latest technological developments, but also advocates for closer collaboration between performing artists and musicologists.
Whether in its curatorial functions or on stage, collaboration with other artists is a priority for the Armida Quartet. They have a special relationship with the Serbian composer Marko Nikodijevi´c, whose first and second String Quartets they premiered. In the meantime, however, musicians such as Thomas Hampson, Martin Fröst, Tabea Zimmermann, Jörg Widmann, Julian Steckel, Sabine Meyer, and Daniel Müller-Schott have also become regular partners. In addition, the ensemble gives master classes in Germany as well as abroad and is committed to social and educational institutions, including initiatives such as Rhapsody in School and Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now.
Along with the three albums of Mozart string quartets already released, the quartet‘s discography also includes their debut CD with works by Béla Bartók, György Ligeti, and György Kurtág (CAvi), released in 2013, which was included in the German Record Prize‘s Best List. A recording with works by Beethoven and Shostakovich was also released by CAvi in 2016, followed in 2017 by Fuga Magna with works by Scarlatti, Bach, Goldberg, Mozart, and Beethoven.
The quartet has also participated in various compilations of contemporary works by Samy Moussa, Ursula Mamlok, Birke J. Bertelsmeier, and Milica Djordjevi´c, among others.

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Martin Funda (violin)

Peter-Philipp Staemmler (cello)

Ever since he won the renowned ARD Music Competition in Munich as a member of the Armida Quartet, Peter-Philipp Staemmler has been invited to perform in major music venues all over Europe, Asia, and the US. While he was still studying at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin, he won a series of outstanding national and international competitions, including the Concours de Genève and the German National Music Competition. Staemmler’s artistic and stylistic versatility as a member of several chamber music ensembles is captured on a multitude of CD recordings. Since 2017 he has been Principal Cellist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony.
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Ever since he won the renowned ARD Music Competition in Munich as a member of the Armida Quartet, Peter-Philipp Staemmler has been invited to perform in major music venues all over Europe, Asia, and the US. While he was still studying at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin, he won a series of outstanding national and international competitions, including the Concours de Genève and the German National Music Competition.

Staemmler’s artistic and stylistic versatility as a member of several chamber music ensembles is captured on a multitude of CD recordings. Since 2017 he has been Principal Cellist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony.


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Composer(s)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School.  At 17, Mozart was engaged as...
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. From 1763 he traveled with his family through all of Europe for three years and from 1769 he traveled to Italy and France with his father Leopold after which he took residence in Paris. On July 3rd, 1778, his mother passed away and after a short stay in Munich with the Weber family, his father urged him to return to Salzburg, where he was once again hired by the Bishop. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.


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Press

Play album Play album
01.
String Quartet No. 9 in A Major, K. 169: I. Molto allegro
05:14
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
02.
String Quartet No. 9 in A Major, K. 169: II. Andante
07:12
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
03.
String Quartet No. 9 in A Major, K. 169: III. Menuetto
02:55
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
04.
String Quartet No. 9 in A Major, K. 169: IV. Rondeau. Allegro
01:32
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
05.
String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464 : I. Allegro
06:35
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
06.
String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464 : II. Menuetto - Trio
06:52
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
07.
String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464 : III. Andante
11:33
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
08.
String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464: IV. Allegro non troppo
06:33
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
09.
String Quartet No. 22 in B-Flat Major, K. 589: I. Allegro
06:07
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
10.
String Quartet No. 22 in B-Flat Major, K. 589: II. Larghetto
05:17
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
11.
String Quartet No. 22 in B-Flat Major, K. 589: III. Menuetto: Moderato
07:10
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
12.
String Quartet No. 22 in B-Flat Major, K. 589: IV. Allegro assai
03:23
(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Armida Quartet, Martin Funda, Johanna Staemmler, Teresa Schwamm, Peter-Philipp Staemmler
show all tracks

Often bought together with..

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart String Quartets Vol. 2
Armida Quartett

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