Schubert: Rosamunde & Der Tod und das Mädchen Quatuor Hermès

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804 "Rosamunde":
• 1Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804 "Rosamunde": I. Allegro ma non troppo13:31
• 2Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804 "Rosamunde": II. Andante06:53
• 3Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804 "Rosamunde": III. Menuetto. Allegretto07:13
• 4Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804 "Rosamunde": IV. Allegro moderato07:06
• String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden":
• 5Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden": I. Allegro ma non troppo11:23
• 6Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden": II. Andante con moto13:14
• 7Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden": III. Scherzo, allegro molto03:52
• 8Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden": IV. Presto09:19
• Total Runtime01:12:31

Info for Schubert: Rosamunde & Der Tod und das Mädchen

At the gates of night and deliverance: By turns symphonic in dimensions and intimately lyrical, grippingly dark and gently enveloping, these two monuments of chamber music reveal the two faces of Schubert.

At the end of 1822, Schubert learnt that he had contracted a venereal disease. His hopes were ‘dashed’, friendship and love became ‘torture’. He threw all his energy into his work and embarked on the most profound portion of his oeuvre. This was the period of the song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, followed in 1824 by the ‘Rosamunde’ Quartet, the Arpeggione Sonata and the ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet. He left more and more works unfinished, but everything he did complete now took on a new dimension. His quartets are no longer for ‘accompanied first violin’: they gain in expressiveness, power and symphonic richness.

The String Quartet No. 13 in A minor D804, ‘Rosamunde’, was the only one printed and performed in public during Schubert’s lifetime. It is a work uttered in a murmur, with its tremolos, its unison melodies, its modulations. This string quartet is deeply touching in its confidences devoid of vehemence or drama. A nocturnal hymn to yearning, it is fragile and should be performed neither too desolately nor too lightly, always playing on the ambiguity between dewdrops and tears.

Schubert’s music is neither happy nor sad, but simply fraternal.

The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor D810, ‘Death and the Maiden’, is a work dictated by despair. Schubert concurs with Mozart’s remark that death is humanity’s best friend. He composed his quartet in D minor, the key of the Mozart Requiem.

The highly dramatic first movement is a struggle for life. In the second movement, Death is accepted. The drama returns in the third movement, now tinged with irony. And the work ends with a Dance of Death, a Presto in the form of a tarantella (the Italian dance invented to cure the bite of the tarantula).

The final chord affirms D minor. There is no doubt about the tragic outcome . . .

Quatuor Hermès

Quatuor Hermès
Maturity, sincerity, finesse and intelligence are certainly the most suitable words to describe the Hermes quartet.

These qualities, very early noticed by Miguel Da Silva and the Ravel and Ysaÿe quartets, develop and maintain alongside Eberhard Feltz, Artemis Quartet and members of the Alban Berg Quartet.

Now, impossible not to be affected by the accomplice sensitivity linking the four musicians. A year after their training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon, the first prize at the International Chamber Music Lyon 2009 reveals them, a special prize for their interpretation of "Ainsi la Nuit", Henri Dutilleux (SACEM prize). The charm works again in Geneva (first prize at the International Competiton 2011). At the same time, they are laureates of the Maurice Ravel Academy and the Charles Oulmont Foundation.

In November 2012, it's the consecration at the prestigious Young Concert Artist Auditions in New York. The four French win one of the first prizes, which opens the doors of the most beautiful american stages.

A great tour in the USA is scheduled for Autumn 2013, but in the meantime, the "windged" quartet continues to travel trough Europe. They performed in the Lockenhaus festival, at the Orangerie de Sceaux, Festival Radio France Montpellier or Crescendo festival in Berlin. Their music has also brought them beyond the borders of Europe, such as Japan and Egypt, great opportunities to share their passion.

During the Geneva Competition, Breguet Watches awarded them "Coup de coeur", offering the possibility to the Hermes quartet to record a first album (released in November 2012 under the label Nascor), in which they interpret two major works of Haydn and Beethoven

Booklet for Schubert: Rosamunde & Der Tod und das Mädchen