Gewandhaus Quartet

With their recording of Dmitri Shostakovich's complete string quartets, the Quatuor Danel has crafted an impressive opus that delves into the composer's life with deep musical understanding and establishes unparalleled standards in interpreting his chamber music. These new live recordings, stemming from their 2022 residency at the Mendelssohn Hall of the Gewandhaus Leipzig, capture the full spectrum of emotions embedded in Shostakovich’s quartet cycle, from the ethereal to the profound, from the whimsical to the contemplative. With their interpretation of this extraordinary cycle, the Quatuor Danel has forged a distinctive Shostakovich style that cannot be found in any other quartet. Primarius Marc Danel reflects on the resonance with the audience in Leipzig, describing it as nothing short of sensational. “I hope the recordings will also convey the collective spirit we permanently felt during our residency in the Mendelssohn Hall."

With their recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s complete string quartets, the Quatuor Danel has crafted an impressive opus that delves into the composer’s life with deep musical understanding and establishes unparalleled standards in interpreting his chamber music. These new live recordings, stemming from their 2022 residency at the Mendelssohn Hall of the Gewandhaus Leipzig, capture the full spectrum of emotions embedded in Shostakovich’s quartet cycle, from the ethereal to the profound, from the whimsical to the contemplative.

With their recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s complete string quartets, the Quatuor Danel has crafted an impressive opus that delves into the composer’s life with deep musical understanding and establishes unparalleled standards in interpreting his chamber music. These new live recordings, stemming from their 2022 residency at the Mendelssohn Hall of the Gewandhaus Leipzig, capture the full spectrum of emotions embedded in Shostakovich’s quartet cycle, from the ethereal to the profound, from the whimsical to the contemplative.

The players of the Leipzig String Quartet come from the veteran ranks of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. They have recorded a variety of standard quartet for the German audiophile label MDG, often using an old monastery farmhouse whose sound environment is nothing short of ideal. They are in the midst of a cycle of Haydn quartets that began with some of the more unorthodox items and with volume 6 reaches the Op. 33 quartets, arguably the founding documents of the true High Classical quartet style. The quartet plays on period instruments (and modern replicas of period bows), resulting in a bright sound and precise articulation that doesn't differ sharply from modern-instrument performances. And indeed the performances fall into a long tradition.

In this new series, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective juxtaposes piano quartets by Brahms with ones by his lesser-known contemporaries. For this first volume the group has chosen the Piano Quartet of Luise Adolpha Le Beau. Born in 1850 in Rastatt, in Baden, she studied with Clara Schumann and Franz Lachner, as well as Josef Rheinberger. Her extensive output covers all genres: orchestral works, plenty of choral music, two operas, and an extensive number of Lieder, solo piano pieces, and chamber music. Her Piano Quartet was composed in 1884 and performed in the Leipzig Gewandhaus that year to great critical acclaim; indeed, Julius Riedel, who was responsible for concerts in that venue, told her that her success eclipsed any he had known there. On a concert tour to Vienna in the same year, she met Brahms and Hanslick; both invited her to show them her compositions, and responded positively.