Alban Berg Quartett
The Alban Berg Quartet was founded in 1971 and within a decade was established as one of the finest string quartets in the world. It was known for its large recorded sets of the complete quartets of many masters of the genre.
Its founding members were all part of a Viennese chamber orchestra, who, while getting together to play chamber music, discovered the musical rapport essential to founding a great quartet. Deciding to honor a Viennese composer in their choice of names, they selected Alban Berg, one of the members of the group of atonal composers known as the Second Viennese School. According to violist Thomas Kakuska, the choice reflects Berg's position as a member of this revolutionary group of composers, but also his status as the most traditional-minded of them. Kakuska said, "We have chosen our name to show that we want to make a balance between the Romantic repertoire and also to play contemporary music."
The quartet achieved its interpretations by consensus, not by the domination of any individual member. In addition to the given qualities of excellent ensemble (clean intonation and a sense of unanimity of purpose, the qualities most often mentioned by reviewers) was the remarkable uniformity of tone among its four members. Its sound was a warm one, although it could be rhythmically incisive when called for.
Its highly acclaimed recordings include complete sets of the quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, and Bartók and the string quartet works of Berg and Anton Webern. The group also recorded substantial amounts of the quartet repertory of Mozart, Haydn, Dvorák, both Janácek quartets, and works by Ravel, Schumann, Debussy, Stravinsky, and Berio. Its repertoire of newer music includes acclaimed recordings of quartets by von Einem, Haubenstock-Ramati, Rihm, Schnittke, and Urbanner, many of them composed for and dedicated to the quartet. In 1977, it paid tribute to Franz Schubert by playing only his music during his 200th anniversary year.
The members of the quartet -- which included violinists Günter Pichler, Gerhard Schulz, Kakuska, and cellist Valentin Erben, of whom Pichler, Schulz, and Erben were founding members -- were all faculty members of the Wiener Hochschule für Musik and also taught master classes on German chamber music regularly at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. The group won 30 major international recording awards, representing virtually every top prize of note. Before Kakuska's death in 2005, he asked that Isabel Charisius, one of his students, take up his position. She did so successfully, but nevertheless, the quartet decided to end its career in 2008.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
Schubert: String Quintet
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets, K. 589 & 590 "Prussian Quartets"
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lutosławski: Streichquartett - Urbanner: Streichquartett No. 4 - Berio: Notturno
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 16 & 17 "Hunt"
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: String Quartet No.11/Schubert: String Quartet No.13
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 25 Nov 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets, K. 464 & 465 "Dissonance"
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 18, 19 & 21 - 23
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on 17 May 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Streichquartette Nr. 12, Op. 127 & Nr. 16, Op. 135
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 (Live, 1987)
Alban Berg Quartett, Amadeus Ensemble
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets, K. 499 "Hoffmeister" & 575
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18 (Live, 1989)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Feb 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rihm & Schnittke: String Quartets No. 4 (Live at Vienna Konzerthaus, 1990)
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert Strijkkwartet nr.14 'De dood en het meisje'
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert Cuarteto de cuerda Nº 14 "La Muerte y la Doncella"
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets, K. 428 & 458 "The Hunt"
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 22 & 23
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18, Nos. 1, 2 & 3
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Piano Quintet, D. 667 "The Trout"
Alban Berg Quartett, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Georg Hortnagel
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 22 Sep 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 17 "Hunt" & 19 "Dissonance"
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Jan 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert String Quartet No. 14 "Death and the Maiden"
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
舒伯特 「死與少女」四重奏
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo