Johan Svendsen - String Quartet; Octet (Kontra Quartet)

Information

Composer: Johan Svendsen

• String Quartet in A minor, Op. 1
• Octet in A major, Op. 3

Kontra Quartet

Anton Kontra & Morten Zeuthen, violins

Boris Samsing, viola

Peter Fabricius, cello

with

Lars Bjørnkjær & Per Lund Madsen, violins

Bjarne Boie Rasmussen, viola

Lars Holm Johansen, cello

Date: 1997

Label: BIS

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Review

These are diverting rarities from Johan Svendsen’s student years in Leipzig (1862-8) – where his compatriot Edvard Grieg also studied. Grieg’s folkloristic simplicity contrasts powerfully with Svendsen’s cosmopolitanism and independent spirit, qualities never fully understood by his teacher, Carl Reinecke. Svendsen’s A minor Quartet (1865) is an impetuous, gripping work: it is played with unswerving authority by the Kontra Quartet. It catches the volcanic fervour of this music wonderfully, and I can’t imagine its performances being bettered. Svendsen’s Octet, influenced as much by Danish composer Niels Gade’s Op. 17 Octet of 1848 as by Mendelssohn’s youthful essay, invokes lush, quasi-orchestral sonorities and bold thematic material of surprising originality. This thrilling account makes out a cast-iron case for another under-subscribed work, and the BIS recording is outstanding. Highly recommended.

-- Michael Jameson, BBC Music Magazine

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Johan Svendsen (30 September 1840 – 14 June 1911) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, he lived most his life in Copenhagen, Denmark. Svendsen's output includes two symphonies, a violin concerto, a cello concerto, and the Romance for violin, as well as a number of Norwegian Rhapsodies for orchestra. He was very popular in Denmark and Norway during his lifetime, both as a composer and a conductor, winning many national awards and honors. At one time Svendsen was an intimate friend of the German composer Richard Wagner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Svendsen

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The Kontra Quartet was formed in 1973 around the Hungarian violin virtuoso Anton Kontra, whose dynamic artistic personality has been setting new standards for the violin and music in general in Scandinavia since 1956. The Kontra Quartet played quartet music for over quarter of a century, and was one of Denmark’s most sought-after ensembles. The Quartet also regularly played cross-over concerts with jazz musicians like Chick Corea, Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Mads Winding. The ensemble made over forty recordings for among other labels BIS, EMI, Philips, Columbia and Dacapo.

https://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/artists/the-kontra-quartet

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