HUGO WOLF QUARTET | ALL WOLF | CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES
MARCH 23, 2011 | 07:30 PM
In the course of just a few short years, the Hugo Wolf Quartet has developed from a chamber music lover’s best-kept secret to one of the most sought-after string quartets of its generation. Their entire evening at the ACFNY in March 2011, appropriately titled "All Wolf," was devoted to Hugo Wolf (1860-1903), an Austrian composer of Slovene origin especially noted for his Lieder, which he treated with an expressive intensity unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision, but unrelated in technique.
Founded in 1993 at the Vienna University for Music, the quartet received the official permission by the International Hugo Wolf Society of Vienna to use the composer's name. The group’s current members are violinists Sebastian Gürtler, Régis Bringolf and Gertrud Weinmeister, and cellist Florian Berner. Internationally, the Hugo Wolf Quartet has appeared in prominent concert halls such as Wigmore Hall London, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, Carnegie Hall New York, Mozarteum Salzburg, Musikverein Wien, and Konzerthaus in Vienna, among many other venues. Prestigious chamber music series in which the ensemble has participated include the Frick Collection in New York, and the National Gallery and the Kreeger Museum in Washington, DC. The Los Angeles Times has called their playing "urgent and impassioned, but with an absolute commitment to the ideal values of every note."
Vivien Schweitzer attended the concert, and reviewed it for the March 27, 2011 issue of The New York Times:
"The Hugo Wolf Quartet offered a spirited and graciously buoyant rendition of the short and sunny work as part of a program devoted to its namesake on Wednesday evening in the Austrian Cultural Forum’s intimate performance space. [...] The ensemble’s members — the violinists Sebastian Gürtler and Régis Bringolf, the violist Gertrud Weinmeister and the cellist Florian Berner — played the songful melodies with poise, elegantly highlighting the gentle witticisms. [...] the musicians here played with energy and subtle shadings, with Mr. Berner’s beautifully rich tone enhancing the performance."
Read the entire New York Times review here.
Audio recordings from the event:
String Quartet in D minor "Entbehren sollst du, sollst entbehren"
Intermezzo E flat major
Photos of the event (click to enlarge):
