Mendelssohn & Schubert: String Quartets Minetti Quartet

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80, MWV R37:
• 1 I. Allegro vivace assai 07:37
• 2 II. Allegro assai 04:33
• 3 III. Adagio 07:38
• 4 IV. Finale. Allegro molto 05:45
• Franz Schubert (1797-1828): String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden":
• 5 I. Allegro 11:35
• 6 II. Andante con moto 13:07
• 7 III. Scherzo. Allegro molto 03:45
• 8 IV. Presto 09:15
• Total Runtime 01:03:15

Info for Mendelssohn & Schubert: String Quartets

The Minetti Quartett marked its fifteenth anniversary by devising and performing a cycle of concerts during the 2017-18 season at Vienna’s newest venue, the MuTh Konzertsaal in the city’s Augarten. The debut concert in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, this newly recorded album, and concert tours to Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden and America are further highlights of the ensemble’s anniversary season. The name Minetti Quartett derives from a play by the dramatist Thomas Bernhard, who lived in Ohlsdorf in Austria’s Salzkammergut region, where the two violinists of the quartet grew up. Since being nominated for the “Rising Stars” award by the European Concert Hall Organization in 2008/09, the Minetti Quartett, comprising Austrian musicians all living in Vienna, has performed many times in renowned venues in Vienna, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Stockholm, Brussels, London and other locations. Invitations to chamber music festivals have taken the quartet to North, Central and South America, Australia, Japan and China. For this release, they have chosen works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Franz Schubert, two composers that the Quartet has frequently performed.

Minetti Quartett

Minetti Quartet
For its fifteenth anniversary the Minetti Quartett was invited to start their own cycle of concerts at Vienna’s newest venue, the MuTh concert hall in the city’s Augarten. They will continue this successful series through the 2018/19 season. A newly recorded CD with 20th century music and concert tours to France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria and America are further highlights of this season.

The name Minetti Quartett derives from a play by the dramatist Thomas Bernhard, who lived in Ohlsdorf in Austria’s Salzkammergut region, where the two violinists of the quartet grew up.

Since being nominated for the “Rising Stars” award by the European Concert Hall Organization in 2008/09, the Minetti Quartett, comprising Austrian musicians all living in Vienna, has performed many times in renowned venues in Vienna, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Stockholm, Brussels, London and other locations. Invitations to chamber music festivals have taken the quartet to North, Central and South America, Australia, Japan and China. Many of their concerts have been recorded and broadcast by international radio stations.

They perform with chamber music partners including Fazil Say, Till Fellner, Jörg Widmann, Paul Meyer, Martin Fröst, Sharon Kam, Thomas Riebl, István Vardai, Camille Thomas, Alois Posch, the Mandelring Quartett and soloists of the Vienna and Berlin philharmonic orchestras. The quartet has performed solo with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz and with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna.

The Minetti Quartett is a winner of many international chamber music competitions (Schubert Competition, Haydn Competition) and was awarded Austria’s Grosser Gradus ad Parnassum Prize, the start-up grant of the Austrian federal ministry and the Karajan Grant.

Johannes Meissl and the musicians of the Alban Berg Quartett were the Minetti Quartett’s teachers at the Music University in Vienna. They also gained crucial artistic input from Ferenc Rados, Alfred Brendel and members of the Artemis Quartett, Amadeus Quartet and Hagen Quartett by participating at European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) courses.

Since 2009 Hänssler Classic has released four highly acclaimed CD recordings (Haydn, Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Schubert) by the ensemble, while Avi Music has released the Clarinet Quintets featuring Matthias Schorn.

The quartet has undertaken teaching projects in Finland, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and at American and Austrian universities (Mozarteum Salzburg, Music University of Graz).

The Austrian National Bank has placed two violins by G. B. Guadagnini (Mantegazza of 1774 and ex Meinel of 1770-1775) and a cello by G. Tononi (Bologna, 1681) on loan to the quartet. Milan Milojicic plays a viola by Bernd Hiller (2009).

Booklet for Mendelssohn & Schubert: String Quartets