Unlike his great contemporary Mozart, who died at 35 in 1791, Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) lived long enough to be feted as a musical colossus in his own lifetime. Writing in the influential, Leipzig-based ‘Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung’ in 1801, Johann Karl Friedrich Triest explains: "all the composers of symphonies and quartets lag behind the man who has plied his craft for almost an entire half century with ever new, inexhaustible, genuinely amazing power, and became the greatest benefactor of German instrumental music". Johann Ferdinand Ritter von Schönfeld, author of ‘A Yearbook of the Music of Vienna and Prague’ in 1796, holds Haydn in similarly high esteem, waxing lyrical about his string quartets: "[they] are full of bewitching harmonies, and... have this special quality of immediately attracting one’s attention, holding it and moving on, as in a labyrinth, through flowering meadows, past babbling brooks, alongside roaring streams".
The Amsterdam String Quartet is one of today's leading period-instrument chamber ensembles. The group's focus is primarily on repertoire of the golden age of the string quartet (1762-1847). The ASQ performs the quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn, alongside the finest works of their lesser-known contemporaries. Its members are esteemed specialists at the forefront of the early-music scene, and the ASQ enjoys an active international career, presenting its own concert series in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. This all-Haydn recording marks the ASQ's Channel Classics debut.
"With Channel's careful balancing, one can hear the individual voice and character of each of these 16 strings, and despite the evidently warm ambience of the Doopsgezinde Kerk of Deventer, a church, they have great immediacy and presence." - Kalman Rubinson, Stereophile July 2008, Recordings In The Round, pg. 49
Features:
• 5.0 Surround
• DSD
• Text in English, German & French
Musicians:
The Amsterdam String Quartet (historical instruments)
Selections:
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in G minor Op. 20 No. 3
1. Allegro con spirito
2. Menuetto. Allegretto
3. Poco Adagio
4. Finale. Allegro molto
String Quartet in C major Op. 74 No. 1
5. Allegro Moderato
6. Andantino grazioso
7. Menuetto. Allegretto
8. Finale. Vivace
String Quartet in G major Op. 76 No. 1
9. Allegro con spirito
10. Adagio sostenuto
11. Menuetto. Presto
12. Allegro ma non troppo
Total playing time 69.07
The Amsterdam String Quartet is one of today's leading period-instrument chamber ensembles. The group's focus is primarily on repertoire of the golden age of the string quartet (1762-1847). The ASQ performs the quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn, alongside the finest works of their lesser-known contemporaries. Its members are esteemed specialists at the forefront of the early-music scene, and the ASQ enjoys an active international career, presenting its own concert series in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. This all-Haydn recording marks the ASQ's Channel Classics debut.
"With Channel's careful balancing, one can hear the individual voice and character of each of these 16 strings, and despite the evidently warm ambience of the Doopsgezinde Kerk of Deventer, a church, they have great immediacy and presence." - Kalman Rubinson, Stereophile July 2008, Recordings In The Round, pg. 49
Features:
• 5.0 Surround
• DSD
• Text in English, German & French
Musicians:
The Amsterdam String Quartet (historical instruments)
Selections:
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in G minor Op. 20 No. 3
1. Allegro con spirito
2. Menuetto. Allegretto
3. Poco Adagio
4. Finale. Allegro molto
String Quartet in C major Op. 74 No. 1
5. Allegro Moderato
6. Andantino grazioso
7. Menuetto. Allegretto
8. Finale. Vivace
String Quartet in G major Op. 76 No. 1
9. Allegro con spirito
10. Adagio sostenuto
11. Menuetto. Presto
12. Allegro ma non troppo
Total playing time 69.07
