Webern, Schoenberg & Berg: String Quartets Richter Ensemble

• Anton Webern (1883 - 1945):
• 1String Quartet (Düster und schwer - Mit grossem Schwung - Langsam - Schnell - Sehr breit - Zart bewegt - Sehr langsam)08:02
• Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951): String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10:
• 2String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 : I. Mässig (Moderato)07:04
• 3String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 . II Sehr rasch06:48
• 4String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 : III. Litanei. Langsam, "Tief ist die Trauer"05:31
• 5String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 . I. Entrückung. Sehr langsam, "Ich fühle Luft von anderem Planeten"11:27
• Alban Berg (1885 - 1935): String Quartet Op. 3:
• 6String Quartet Op. 3 : I. Langsam09:54
• 7String Quartet Op. 3 : II. Mässig Viertel11:00
• Total Runtime59:46

Info for Webern, Schoenberg & Berg: String Quartets

The Richter Ensemble performs music from the 17th to the 20th century exclusively on gut strings and uses its experience with historical performance practice to heighten the sense for the development of musical language over the centuries. The ensemble is passionately dedicated to the music of the Second Viennese School and, based on its research, has decided that the time is ripe to steer the perception of this music in a new direction, on the path of rediscovering and recapturing not only its modernity but also its connections with the past. Hence the musicians have initiated a project to record the entire string quartet works of the Second Viennese School, to place them in a historical context and to combine them with unusual works by other composers.

Their first production is called Vienna 1905-1910, with music by Webern, Schönberg and Berg: Webern’s Langsamer Satz, Schönberg’s String Quartet No. 2 with mezzo-soprano (as originally intended!) and Berg’s Opus 3. This approach captures a completely different palette of sounds and unveils a romantic language and nuances that are often neglected by the sometimes severely modern string quartets with their metal strings. As a result, the listener’s access to these works is less of a challenge.

Richter Ensemble
Mireille Lebel, mezzo-soprano

Richter Ensemble
is a new chamber music initiative in which the members share a mutual passion for bold artistic expression. Emphasising flexibility and freedom, the group works mainly as a string quartet, but can expand to a larger chamber orchestra. It is fervent about highlighting hidden connections in music ranging from the 17th to the 21st centuries, demonstrated through its innovative programming. Benefitting from members' vast experiences of performing with leading period ensembles, the Richter Ensemble presents a fresh palette of colors by playing uniquely on gut strings. It seeks to bring spontaneity and new light to every performance and is enthusiastic about collaborating with artists from other fields such as dance and visual media (i.e. projections, installations, art exhibitions, and film). The ensemble has a particular affinity for music from Fin-de-siècle and the Second Viennese School, and strives to reintroduce that music to audiences through a new lens.

Richter Ensemble gave its first concert with a programme of late Beethoven’s string quartets and music by Biber at the Refractions Festival at Owlpen Manor (UK) in the Fall of 2017. Enthusiastically received, it has since performed widely in the United Kingdom, Europe, Brazil and the United States. In the 2018-19 season the ensemble toured Southern California, Massachusetts, appeared at the Spokane Bach Festival (USA), and served as quartet-in-residence at the Oficina Música de Curitiba (Brazil) and at San Diego’s summer festival Opera NEO (USA). Highlights of the 2019-20 include concerts and masterclasses in Los Angeles (USA), return appearances in Brazil and the UK, and the ensemble debut at the Great Lakes Music Festival (USA) and the Kretinga Early Music Festival in Lithuania.

In 2018 the Richter Ensemble embarked on a project of recording the complete Second Viennese School string quartets on gut strings, thereby proposing a unique interpretation of that repertory.

“It was a musical experience at once fiercely stimulating and deeply relaxing.”

“We could hear clearly the subtleties of every player, and the incredibly imaginative and expressive turn of every phrase of Bach’s inexhaustible invention.” The Spokesman Review, Spokane WA

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