Alma Quartet
Alma Quartet
Het vierde seizoen van KaMuKoZa wordt geopend door het Alma Quartet. Dit ensemble, voor het merendeel samengesteld uit musici van het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest brengt een aantrekkelijk programma met onder meer Clair de Lune van Debussy en het strijkkwartet op. 130 van Beethoven, dat zijn bijnaam dankt aan de schitterende, emotionele Cavatina. Hun laatste album met daarop strijkkwartetten van onder meer Shostakovitch, oogstte zeer enthousiaste reacties in de internationale pers.
Biografie
The album was chosen for the 2017 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik “Bestenliste” and was also featured on German national radio station SWR2, hailing Alma’s Schulhoff cycle as the ‘new reference recording.’
Their latest album: The Late Quartets Vol.1 with Shostakovich String Quartet No.11 and Beethoven String Quartet No.12 was recently released and garnered acclaim from Spanish magazine Ritmo with a 5-star review stating: ’the publications of the Alma Quartet are an example to follow. A great first CD.’
French magazine Diapason writes: ‘Alma Quartet imbues [Shostakovich] with mysterious and undeniably poetic tones.’
Dutch magazine Luister gives the album one of the highest points claiming it’s ‘striking, robust and flawless.’ And finally The American Record Guide is exceptionally generous in stating: ‘as much as we may still love our old recordings, it’s difficult to argue there are not many present-day groups as good as or BETTER than those old ensembles. The Alma Quartet is in the latter group.’
Korngold String Quartet No.1 | Piano Quintet with Severin von Eckardstein for Challenge Records received the prestigious Diapason d’Or in France and was the winner of the album of the year 2024 in the category chamber music of the renowned Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali in Italy.
It has also been exceptionally well received by The Gramophone claiming there is a ‘[…] superb polish of the playing, a sense of freshness, discovery and sheer joy that leaps out from this recording’ as well as ‘this is intensely characterful playing that never sounds mannered – complex without becoming congested.’
Italian magazine Classic Voice gives the album 5 stars and says: ‘The passionate interpretation restores all its communicative strength.’
De Volkskrant states: ‘Alma Quartet plays Korngold the way he would’ve wanted, slippery and insane.’ On top of that Belgian newspaper De Standaard claims that ‘Alma Quartet knows how to capture the soul of Korngold.’
BBC Music Magazine writes: ’there’s inventiveness and a sense of adventure in these burnished performances – utterly refined, yet warm and tender too.’
And ultimately the American Record Guide says: ‘I might as well admit that the album sounds phenomenal.’
Korngold String Quartets Nos. 2-3 was recorded direct-to-disc without editing and has been ranked among the Top40 best albums of 2021 by De Volkskrant claiming ‘Alma Quartet plays Korngold with a touch of soft nostalgia.’
De Standaard gave it a 5-star review claiming ’the Amsterdam foursome plays formidable […]’ and ’the result sounds as thrilling as a live concert.’
BBC Radio 3 celebrated their ‘uncompromising and emphatic performance style’ as well as saying that it’s ‘like close-up magic, listening to this.’
NRC Handelsblad stated that ’the foursome […] shows the listener in one go the most beautiful flowers along the deepest abysses’ and Het Parool praised the quartet for their ‘enchanting masters level playing’ and finds that ’the result commands great admiration.’
Spanish magazine Ritmo gave it 5 stars and claimed their recording is ’the best available […] for understanding the expressive world of Korngold.’
As well as performing the classical repertoire, the quartet is keen on collaborating with artists of other genres such as singer-songwriter Nana Adjoa, big band New Cool Collective with which they released Opus 127, an EP containing jazz variations on Beethoven’s twelfth string quartet and composer and jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs with whom they released Piano Concertos Nos. 1-2 of which De Volkskrant stated they play ‘[…] with a lot of flair and finesse.’
The quartet has recorded for a number of labels including Sony Classical, Universal Music, BIS Records, Challenge Records, Gutman Records and TRPTK. They’ve also collaborated with techno producer Henrik Schwarz on a multitude of projects.
On their album CCMYK, they explore the possibilities of seamlessly fusing newly composed electronic and classical music into a new language.
The quartet has performed at prestigious concert halls in Germany, Spain, Japan, China, Hungary, Netherlands and Turkey including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Oji Hall Ginza Tokyo, Kyoto Concert Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Müpa Budapest, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, De Doelen Rotterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ Amsterdam, Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, Süreyya Opera House Istanbul, Tianjin Grand Theatre, Harbin Concert Hall, Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall, as well as clubs and theaters such as Jazz Cafe London, Philharmonie Haarlem, Diligentia Den Haag, Volksbühne Berlin, Temple Beijing, Musis Arnhem, Paradiso Amsterdam, Bimhuis and Kulturbrauerei Berlin.
They have played during captivating events and festivals such as String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, Schumannfest Düsseldorf, Festival Salon-de-Provence, Amsterdam Dance Event, XJazz Festival Berlin, Down The Rabbit Hole, Beyond the Pale Festival, Pop-Kultur Festival Berlin, Theater Spektakel Zurich and TEDx.
Alma Quartet has collaborated with diverse artists such as Klaus Mäkelä, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lisa Batiashvili, Martin Fröst, Denis Kozhukhin, Amihai Grosz, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Samuel Adams, Milica Djordjevic, Jörgen van Rijen, Hauschka, Julien Libeer, Lavinia Meijer, Ramon van Engelenhoven, Bugge Wesseltoft, Su Yeon Kim, Frank Braley, Mahsa Vahdat, Alma Sadé, Nicolas van Poucke, Ella van Poucke, Dominic Seldis, Nino Gvetadze and Frank Lammers.
