Press Releases

HAYDN’S OPUS 20 STRING QUARTETS – EXPLORING NEW DIRECTIONS

RES10248 Haydn Op 20 Quartets Vol 1
CD Cover design: Daan van der Horst with photograph by Marco Borggreve

Haydn Op 20 Quartets Volume 1 – Quartets Nos 2, 3 & 5

Resonus Classics RES10248
Release date: 27 September 2019

The more you play Haydn, the more you discover that this man created a whole universe of music, where everything exists.

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

Following three acclaimed discs on Resonus Classics, Dudok Quartet Amsterdam launches the first of two CDs featuring Haydn’s six quartets composed in 1772, collectively known as Opus 20 and considered a milestone in the history of composition.

A mutual love of Haydn was the key reason the Dudok players first embarked upon their career as a quartet. Now, after almost a decade of playing his works together, they instinctively decided the time was right to focus on Haydn for these albums. This choice marks a significant change of direction.

Previous recordings with Resonus Classics established something of a pattern: Metamorphosis, Labyrinth and Solitude were all ‘concept’ albums featuring a classical work, a contemporary work and their own arrangement of work outside the string quartet oeuvre. This imaginative approach and curiosity about programming has set the Dudok Quartet apart from its peers.

The Quartet also considers its new bows – specially commissioned for these recordings – contribute another voice to its interpretations of these highly emotional, virtuosic and experimental works. Tailored to their individual personalities and instruments, the bespoke bows were crafted by Netherlands-based Luis Emilio Rodriguez Carrington and were part-funded by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust which is also supporting the Haydn recordings.

These dramatic quartets 2, 3 and 5 were recorded at Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in Hilversum (Netherlands) and the album’s release date just precedes the Dudok Quartet’s Wigmore Hall debut on 6 October. The remaining quartets 1, 4 and 6 have already been recorded at the same venue for release in 2020.

To coincide with the CD release, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust has made a short film made during the recording, featuring interviews with the Quartet and with the bow-maker:

DUDOK QUARTET AMSTERDAM
dudokquartet.com

• Repertoire: ranges from Ligeti, Shostakovich and Weinberg to Mendelssohn, Mozart and Beethoven. The Quartet constantly explores new pathways and connections in music. They regularly perform their own arrangements of pieces including Gesualdo, des Prez and Brahms.
• Collaboration: recent partners have included Pieter Wispelwey, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Hannes Minnaar,
  Erik Bosgraaf and Annelien Van Wauwe.
• Performances: major European venues and festivals including Vienna Konzerthaus, Beethoven Haus Bonn, De Doelen, Carinthischer Sommer Festival, Gergiev Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Festival Jeunes Talents, Festival Quatuors à Bordeaux and the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale, as well as appearing regularly at Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw. US debut January 2018 at Northwestern University Winter Chamber Music Festival, with future US plans including its New York debut at the Park Avenue Armory. Other recent highlights include engagements in Milan, Mantova, Utrecht, Rotterdam and Heidelberg String Quartet Festival.
• Recordings: In 2015 released first recording on Resonus Classics label. Métamorphoses explores theme of musical innovation through works by Ligeti, Haydn and Brahms and was awarded Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, with the Quartet praised by The Guardian for its ‘lithe, lively sound and alert sense of structure and detail’. Second highly acclaimed release, Labyrinth, explores the use of counterpoint in works by Mozart, Ligeti and Bach. The third, Solitude, (2018) features works by Mendelssohn, Weinberg and Shostakovich curated around the theme of loss and loneliness – ‘an intense listening experience that will have you on the edge of your seat’ (The Strad).
• Projects: include world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Only the Sound Remains with Philippe Jaroussky and Dutch National Opera and a collaboration with director Rosabel Huguet re-imagining Beethoven’s Op 132 String Quartet for children. Entitled “Quartet! A card game with Beethoven” the Quartet takes the project to venues including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Flagey and De Doelen as part of its ongoing commitment to education and outreach work.
• Inception: First met as members of the Ricciotti Ensemble, a Dutch street symphony orchestra. Studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne with the Alban Berg Quartet and later at the Dutch String Quartet Academy with Marc Danel of the Danel Quartet. Other important mentors include Eberhard Feltz, Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet), Luc-Marie Aguera (Quatuor Ysaÿe) and Stefan Metz.
• Name: the Quartet is named after celebrated Dutch architect Willem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974) who was from a musical family and also composed in his spare time; “I feel deeply the common core of music and architecture: after all, they both derive their value from the right proportions.”
• Awards: 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, Joseph Joachim International Chamber Music Competition Weimar and the prestigious Dutch Kersjes Prize (2014).
• Instruments: generously on loan from the Dutch Musical Instrument Foundation (NMF); violins by
  Francesco Goffriller and Vincenzo Panormo, viola by Max Möller and cello by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume. The new bows were commissioned with the help of a private sponsor, Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument, Kersjes Foundation and Borletti-Buitoni Trust.