Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (Lars Vogt's last recordings) Christian Tetzlaff, Barbara Buntrock, Tanja Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26:
• 1 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26: I. Allegro non troppo 15:17
• 2 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26: II. Poco adagio 11:14
• 3 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26: III. Scherzo: Poco allegro 11:14
• 4 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26: IV. Finale: Allegro 10:17
• Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60:
• 5 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60: I. Allegro non troppo 09:51
• 6 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60: II. Scherzo: Allegro 04:20
• 7 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60: III. Andante 08:37
• 8 Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60: IV. Finale: Allegro comodo 10:24
• Total Runtime 01:21:14

Info for Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (Lars Vogt's last recordings)

This new album of two piano quartets by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) consists of pianist Lars Vogt's last recordings. Before his premature death and between treatments, Lars Vogt was able to record a multi-award-winning album of piano chamber music works by Schubert together with Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff, as well as albums of Mozart's and Mendelssohn's piano concertos. However, a project to record Brahms' complete piano quartets was left unfinished after the studio recording of Piano Quartet No. 2 was completed. With the help of recording producer Christoph Franke, we are now able to offer this recording together with Piano Quartet No. 3 from a live concert performance in connection with the studio recording. Combined, these make up Lars Vogt's last recordings. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff, violist Barbara Buntrock and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff offer stellar performances in these landmark recordings and fulfill Lars Vogt's late wish to have these performances released.

Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Tanja Tetzlaff, cello
Barbara Buntrock, viola
Lars Vogt, piano

Christian Tetzlaff
is considered one of the world’s leading international violinists and maintains a most extensive performing schedule. Musical America named him ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in 2005. His recording of the Bartók Violin Concertos (ODE 1317-2) received both Gramophone and ICMA Awards, and the recording was also a finalist for the BBC Music Award in 2019. His recording of the Violin Concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann, released on Ondine in 2011 (ODE 1195-2), and Bach Sonatas and Partitas released in 2017 (ODE 1299-2D) received the ‘Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik’. In addition, in 2015 ICMA awarded Christian Tetzlaff as the ‘Artist of the Year’, and he also received ECHO ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ award in 2017. His recordings on Ondine with Brahms’ Trios (ODE 1271-2D) and Violin Concertos by Dvorák and Suk (1279-5), released in 2015 and 2016, earned GRAMMY nominations.

Tanja Tetzlaff
performs an extensive repertoire, including the staple solo and chamber music literature, and important compositions of the 20th and 21st centuries. Tanja Tetzlaff has played with leading orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, Spanish National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Paris and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and collaborated with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Sir Roger Norrington, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitri Kitajenko, Paavo Järvi, Michael Gielen and Heinz Holliger. Chamber music also plays a significant part in her career, with regular appearances alongside Leif Ove Andsnes, Alexander Lonquich, Antje Weithaas, Florian Donderer, Baiba and Lauma Skride, and her brother, Christian Tetzlaff. In 1994 Tanja founded the Tetzlaff Quartett, with Christian Tetzlaff, Elisabeth Kufferath and Hanna Weinmeister.

Barbara Buntrock
took her first violin lessons at the age of five; it was only just before entering university-level studies that she discovered her love for the viola, its deeper tones and timbres.

She studied at several music universities: in Cologne with Werner Dickel, in Lübeck with Barbara Westphal, at the Juilliard School in New York City with Heidi Castleman, and in Berlin with Tabea Zimmermann and Lars Anders Tomter.

From February 2009 to December 2010, Barbara Buntrock was Principal Violist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra but decided to devote herself instead to solo appearances and chamber music.

In 2015, she was appointed Viola Professor at the Robert Schumann University of Music in Düsseldorf.

Buntrock plays a viola made by Antonio Mariani in Pesaro, ca. 1650, an instrument that previously belonged to legendary violist Lionel Tertis.

Her most recent recordings on CD include Walter Braunfels’s Scottish Fantasia (on the Capriccio label) and the viola concertos of Christian Westerhoff (cpo). In contrast to her musical activities, her two children have been the leading voice in Barbara Buntrock‘s life since 2021.

Lars Vogt
was appointed the first ever “Pianist in Residence” by the Berlin Philharmonic in 2003/04 and enjoys a high profile as a soloist and chamber musician. His debut solo recording on Ondine with Bach’s Goldberg Variations (ODE 1273-2) was released in August 2015 and has been a major critical success. From September 2015 Vogt has been Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead, a position which he has held for five years before becoming Principal Artistic Partner of the orchestra. In 2020, Vogt was announced as the next Music Director of Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. Lars Vogt was nominated for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year award in 2017. His recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4 (ODE 1311-2) together with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and an album of Dvořák’s Piano Trios (ODE 1316-2) both received Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice as well as the recent album of Mozart’s Piano Sonatas (ODE 1318-2). The recent installments in his Brahms concerto series also received Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice in January 2020 (ODE 1330-2) and BBC Music Magazine Concerto Choice in August 2020 (ODE 1346-2).

Booklet for Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (Lars Vogt's last recordings)