account
basket
Challenge Records Int. logo
Quattro Stazioni
Kjell Habbestad

Vertavo String Quartet

Quattro Stazioni

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Lawo Classics
UPC: 7090020182155
Catnr: LWC 1193
Release date: 01 May 2020
Buy
1 CD
✓ in stock
€ 19.95
Buy
 
Label
Lawo Classics
UPC
7090020182155
Catalogue number
LWC 1193
Release date
01 May 2020
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

The title of this CD refers to String Quartet No. 1, which has the same name. But it can also stand as an all-inclusive name for the four compositions represented on the CD, four stations on my journey as a composer, four different approaches to musical expression in time and space. The journey begins in 1989 with String Quartet No. 1 — Quattro stazioni, and ends in 2013 with String Quartet No. 2. Between these stations (albeit in reverse order on the CD) are Air d’été suédois for clarinet quintet (2009) and Divertimento for clarinet and piano (2010).

The first work, String Quartet No. 1—Quattro stazioni, takes its starting point in some spe­cific geographical locations: Holon, Israel; Rome, Italy; Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands; and Vassenden in the Hardanger region of Norway—in the form of traditional melodic material that arose in these places: a Samari­tan song, a Gregorian sequence, a Medieval hymn and a Norwegian dance tune. I have used the same approach, with music built on existing (preferably very old) melodic material, in a number of compositions.

The second work, String Quartet No. 2, takes its starting point in textual rather than musical material: the poetry of several au­thors and with contrasting emotional con­tent from movement to movement. There is no connection between either the poets or the poems. My intention here is not to tell a story or to convey an extra-musical message. Most vocal music begins with a text. Here the same principle is applied to instrumental music in that I have written a ‘song’. Once this has emerged as a melodic, harmonic and rhythmic totality I say “thanks for your help,” abandon the text as a carrier wave and try thereafter to not even remem­ber what it is about—while the instrumental work is further developed.

In the third work, Air d’été suédois, I take a further step in that I try to communicate a textual message through music. This is a musical narration that attempts to depict the soul’s condition and activity. To do this it is necessary that the music be supplemented with a program text, which is given below. The idea is old: it is found even in antiquity and was often used during the Romantic era by Liszt, Berlioz, Smetana, Richard Strauss and others who used such terms as «pro­grammatic symphonies», «symphonic po­ems» or «songs without words».

The last work on the CD, Divertimento, is not built on either musical or textual materi­als drawn from other sources but is a work developed to some extent in accordance with specific classical formal principles, in this case sonata form.

These four stations have played major roles in my work as a composer; indeed, all four are important elements of the music I write today.

- Kjell Habbestad

Artist(s)

Vertavo String Quartet (violin)

VERTAVO STRING QUARTET ØYVOR VOLLE — VIOLIN BERIT CARDAS — VIOLIN HENNINGE LANDAAS — VIOLA BJØRG LEWIS — CELLO The Vertavo Quartet is recognized internationally as one of the most exciting and experienced string quartets of our time. Since their founding in Norway in 1984, their masterly performances and unique sound have enchanted audiences wherever they have played. The Vertavo Quartet performs at all of the most important concert venues in the world. They tour throughout Europe, Scandinavia and the United States and are invited to such chamber music venues as Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall in New York. The past concert season included appearances in the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic and Israel. In addition to distinguishing themselves in...
more
VERTAVO STRING QUARTET ØYVOR VOLLE — VIOLIN BERIT CARDAS — VIOLIN HENNINGE LANDAAS — VIOLA BJØRG LEWIS — CELLO The Vertavo Quartet is recognized internationally as one of the most exciting and experienced string quartets of our time. Since their founding in Norway in 1984, their masterly performances and unique sound have enchanted audiences wherever they have played.
The Vertavo Quartet performs at all of the most important concert venues in the world. They tour throughout Europe, Scandinavia and the United States and are invited to such chamber music venues as Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall in New York. The past concert season included appearances in the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic and Israel.
In addition to distinguishing themselves in the classical core repertoire for string quartet, Vertavo also has a great ability to interpret contemporary music – a skill that has led to memorable performances of works by Ligeti, Adès, Widmann, Gabriela Frank and many contemporary Nordic composers. Recently they gave the critically acclaimed first performances of Poul Ruders’ last string quartet in London’s Barbican Hall and at the Aldeburgh Festival.
Vertavo has collaborated with many of the world’s most outstanding artists including Leif Ove Andsnes, Håkan Hardenberger, Martin Fröst, Isabelle van Keulen and Lawrence Power. Recently they completed a widely acclaimed tour as a quintet in collaboration with the well-known British pianist Paul Lewis, performing also in this configuration at the opening of The Proms chamber music season in 2016.
Vertavo’s recordings include works by Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, Debussy, Bartok, Nielsen and Asheim. They have also recorded Mozart’s clarinet quintet with Martin Fröst. Their recordings of Debussy and Grieg earned them Diapason d’Or awards. In June of 2005, the Quartet received the Grieg prize – the most important cultural prize in Norway, one that is awarded only to artists of the highest international reputation. Exactly 10 years earlier, in 1995, they won first prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, where they also received both the audience prize and the critics’ prize.
Vertavo established its own international chamber music festival – The Vertavo Festival – in Norway in September, 2016. In autumn 2019, Vertavo celebrated its 35-year Jubilee with a marathon concert at Sentralen – a large center for the arts in downtown Oslo – where, in collaboration with some of their good musical friends, they performed all 68 of Haydn’s string quartets in 24 hours.

less

Björn Nyman (clarinet)

Björn Nyman is one of the leading clarinetists of his generation in the Nordic region and a sought-after chamber musician and soloist. He is principal clarinetist with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. Nyman was a prizewinner in two of the most prestigious international competitions for clarinetists: the ARD Competition in Munich in 2003 and the Carl Nielsen competition in Odense in 2005. In both competitions he was also awarded the prize for best interpretation of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Nyman won shared first prize at the International Crusell Clarinet Competition in 2002 as well as the ConocoPhillipps Prize the same year. Björn Nyman has been a soloist with several orchestras including the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra,...
more
Björn Nyman is one of the leading clarinetists of his generation in the Nordic region and a sought-after chamber musician and soloist. He is principal clarinetist with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
Nyman was a prizewinner in two of the most prestigious international competitions for clarinetists: the ARD Competition in Munich in 2003 and the Carl Nielsen competition in Odense in 2005. In both competitions he was also awarded the prize for best interpretation of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Nyman won shared first prize at the International Crusell Clarinet Competition in 2002 as well as the ConocoPhillipps Prize the same year.
Björn Nyman has been a soloist with several orchestras including the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.
Nyman is an active chamber musician and has played in many of the leading festivals in Scandinavia. At the age of 19 he was appointed his first position as principal clarinetist with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. He has also been principal clarinetist in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under conductors such as Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado. He has studied with Hans Christian Bræin and Leif Arne Pedersen at the Norwegian Academy of Music where he teaches today, as well as with Yehuda Gilad of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

less

Sveinung Bjelland (piano)

The award-winning pianist Sveinung Bjelland from Stavanger studied with Professor Hans Leygraf at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts (Mozarteum) in Salzburg and at the Berlin University of the Arts, from which he graduated with highest honors. In 1999 he was the recipient of Concerts Norway’s “Young Soloist of the Year” award. In the international press he is described as an outstanding lieder pianist. He is Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the University of Agder. Bjelland can look back on an extensive career as soloist, on international concert stages as well as on numerous recordings. His album of sonatas of Scarlatti and Mendelssohn is testimony to his exquisite sense of style and sound. His previous release...
more
The award-winning pianist Sveinung Bjelland from Stavanger studied with Professor Hans Leygraf at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts (Mozarteum) in Salzburg and at the Berlin University of the Arts, from which he graduated with highest honors. In 1999 he was the recipient of Concerts Norway’s “Young Soloist of the Year” award. In the international press he is described as an outstanding lieder pianist. He is Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the University of Agder. Bjelland can look back on an extensive career as soloist, on international concert stages as well as on numerous recordings. His album of sonatas of Scarlatti and Mendelssohn is testimony to his exquisite sense of style and sound. His previous release on the LAWO Classics label, "Rachmaninoff/Shostakovich: Cello Sonatas" (LWC1131) with cellist Audun Sandvik, received glowing reviews in Norway and abroad.

less

Composer(s)

Kjell Habbestad

KJELL HABBESTAD (b. 1955) is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, of which he is a graduate in church music and composition. His catalog of works includes 97 opuses including dramatic works (operas, oratorios), orchestral works, solo instrument concertos, chamber works for various combinations of instruments, works for organ and piano, and a large number choral works. Habbestad’s larger works include The Moster Pageant, which has been performed annually in an amphitheater at Moster, Norway (on the island of Bømlo), since 1984; the oratorios One Night on Earth (1983) and Adam and Eve (2008); the operas Hans Egede’s Night (1995) and Nenia— in Memory of Fartein Valen (2014), all with texts by Paal-Helge...
more

KJELL HABBESTAD (b. 1955) is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, of which he is a graduate in church music and composition. His catalog of works includes 97 opuses including dramatic works (operas, oratorios), orchestral works, solo instrument concertos, chamber works for various combinations of instruments, works for organ and piano, and a large number choral works.

Habbestad’s larger works include The Moster Pageant, which has been performed annually in an amphitheater at Moster, Norway (on the island of Bømlo), since 1984; the oratorios One Night on Earth (1983) and Adam and Eve (2008); the operas Hans Egede’s Night (1995) and Nenia— in Memory of Fartein Valen (2014), all with texts by Paal-Helge Haugen. Also worthy of mention are the opera Karlstad 1905 — A Page in the History of Civilization (2016), and the musical The Count of Monte Cristo (2011), both with librettos by the composer.


less

Press

Play album Play album

You might also like..

David Monrad Johansen, Johan Kvandal
Like Father, Like Son
Christiania Mannskor
Åsmund Feidje
Åsmund Feidje: Chamber Works
Åsmund Feidje
Various composers
Live in Bremen
Hilde Torgersen & Kenneth Karlsson
Various composers
Trio Brax
Trio Brax
Johan Kvandal
Complete String Quartets
Engegård Quartet
Arne Nordheim
Arne Nordheim: The Tempest - Suite from the Ballet
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Ketil Hvoslef
Hvoslef Chamber Works No. VIII
Hvoslef Chamber Music Project
Various composers
Seraph
Tine Thing Helseth
Various composers
Skumring
Ida Løvli Hidle
Various composers
Colours of Christmas
Bragernes kirkes ungdomskor
Benjamin Britten, Lars Petter Hagen, Richard Strauss
Britten/Hagen/Strauss
Ensemble Allegria
Various composers
Loudmouthed Beauty
Clare Farr