Leipziger Streichquartett Haydn

The Leipzig String Quartet is back! After a break of two years the top ensemble from Saxony now continues its Haydn edition. Nos. 1, 2, and 6 round off Haydn’s op. 64 - a marvellous combination of emotional dedication and consummate classicism. Haydn, the glorious inventor of the string quartet, took the genre to new heights in his op. 64. Perfectly balanced in form and harmony, the pieces comprising this number are directly interrelated. In London Haydn’s career once again truly blossomed. The Quartets op. 64 must have played a considerable role in this development, and with the Leipzig String Quartet we immediately understand why this was so.

Four Experts it was with this headline that the press welcomed Vol. 10 of the encyclopedic Haydn series by the Leipzig String Quartet. The result is uncommonly rewarding in that as light is shed on a highly interesting developmental advance from divertimento mirth to mature chamber music and straight into the formative years of a revolutionary new musical genre. The Leipzig String Quartet are renowned musicians who have gained universal critical praise for their previous series of Mozart and Beethoven String Quartets. This next volume in their exploration of Haydn't oevre is a welcome addition to the catalogue.

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.

Born in Vechta in northwestern Germany, Andreas Romberg (1767-1821) began touring throughout Europe as a violinist at age 6 with his cousin Bernard. After working in orchestras in Bonn, Hamburg, Paris and Vienna, where he concertized with Beethoven, he succeeded Louis Spohr as the court music director for Duke August of Gotha, Thuringia. Well regarded during his lifetime, Romberg's decline can be traced directly to the ascendency of his more famous contemporary. Tracking the number of public performances of Beethoven's string quartets versus Romberg's reveals an inverse relationship.

Trained as a violinist, Andreas Romberg (1767-1821) began touring Europe at age 6 with his cousin Bernard who was a cellist. Well regarded during his lifetime, he took Haydn’s mature works as his model for his 30 string quartets. But as Beethoven became more popular, Romberg‘s reputation declined. That inverse relationship is dramatically revealed by the number of his public performances, which decreased in direct proportion to the string quartet performances of his more famous contemporary. All written in minor keys, the three quartets were composed at different times during his lifetime and follow the usual 4 movement pattern with the minuet as the 2nd section.