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Engegård Quartet

Engegårdkvartetten is a popular Norwegian string quartet known for its incisive interpretations of the cornerstones of the standard quartet repertory, as well as works by both well-known and little-known Norwegian composers. Often billed as the Engegård Quartet in English-speaking countries, the group has toured heavily throughout Scandinavia, Europe, and the U.K. The Engegårdkvartetten, through several changes in membership, has a growing catalog of recordings, including 2023's Johan Kvandal: Complete String Quartets. Engegårdkvartetten was founded in Lofoten, Norway, in 2005 by violinist Arvid Engegård. Violinist Alte Sponberg, violist Juliet Jopling, and cellist Jan-Erik Gustafsson were the other original members of the ensemble. The group made its official debut at the 2006 Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival, an annual event for which Engegård serves as artistic director. Engegårdkvartetten had immediate success, and its first recording was issued in 2008, a 2L release of quartets by Haydn, Grieg, and Solberg. The quartet often programs a mixture of compositions on concert bills and recordings, a potpourri wherein the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert share the limelight with Leif Solberg, Catharinus Elling, and Arne Nordheim. Tours throughout Scandinavia and Europe helped solidify the group's reputation, and a second release followed in 2010, containing works by Beethoven, Bartók, and Nordheim. Critics hailed the recording and generally found the seating arrangement -- different for each of the three works on the disc -- a positive feature. This seating arrangement is an unusual feature of the group, which often has the first and second violins separated by viola and cello, or by cello and then viola. Engegårdkvartetten's busy 2011 schedule included a concert tour and its first recording for the Simax label, a disc of Elling works: the D major and A minor string quartets, and the G minor Piano Quartet, featuring pianist Nils Anders Mortensen. In 2011, cellist Gustafsson departed and was replaced by Adrian Brendel. Alex Robson was named second violinist in 2012, and Brendel was succeeded by Jan Clemens Carlsen in 2013. The quartet released several recordings with this lineup, beginning with a 2015 album of works by Franz Schubert, Maja Ratkje, Benjamin Britten, and Joseph Haydn on 2L. In 2019, the group issued Mozart: String Quartets Dedicated to Haydn on Lawo Classics. A steady stream of releases continued into the 2020s, including a second volume of Mozart's Quartets Dedicated to Haydn in 2021. The following year, violinist Laura Custodio Sabas succeeded Robson as second violinist. This new lineup was heard on a recording of the complete string quartets of Johan Kvandal in 2023.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Discography

20 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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