String quartets
Kraus's dates of birth and death are practically identical with those of Mozart: Both composers were born in 1756 and Kraus died just one year after his great contemporary. Thus, posterity has begun to regard him as the “Odenwald Mozart.” However, that which to some listeners may appear to be “ like Mozart” belonged, for the most part, to the common musical language of the era which Kraus shared with Mozart and with many other composers. In all the essential aspects of his creative output Kraus proves to be a composer of great originality, which is clearly evident in his string quartets. Three of the works on this CD are from the “Six Quatuors Concertants” op. 1, published in 1784 by the Viennese publisher Hummel. These quartets appeared in two separate editions: One edition was printed with the customary French title French, while the other contained a title page printed in Swedish, with a dedication to Kraus’s royal patron and employer, Gutav III. The remaining two quartets on this recording have survived only as autographs.
The Salagon Quartet is an ensemble with four experienced and dedicated chamber musicians who have performed throughout the world in the most renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles. Their artistic ideal is based on the transparent, eloquent and richly-colored manner of playing which has developed through the use of instruments appropriate to the historical period and through the careful consideration of historical performance practice over the past few decades.
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- Allegro
- Scozzese. Andante maestoso
- Largo
- Allegro assai
- Largo
- Andantino - Allegro - Tempo primo
- Allegro con brio
- Adagio
- Allegretto
- Andante comodo
- Romance
- Tempo di Minuetto
- Allegro moderato
- Largo
- Allegretto
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Contents
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Composer
Joseph Martin Kraus
| 1756-1792Joseph Martin Kraus was one of the most musically original contemporaries of Mozart. He was born in the same year as this famous classicist from Vienna and survived him by only one year. Other than this almost chronological coincidence these two composers share neither stylistic nor biographical traits. Born in 1756 in Miltenberg am Main, Kraus studied law in Mainz, Erfurt and Göttingen with the goal of becoming a civil servant in the service of the Elector of Mainz. Kraus already made his initial attempts at composition during his studies at the grammar school in Mannheim, and during an interruption of his studies the twenty-year-old composed church music at Buchen in the Odenwald. His father had been transferred to this town soon after Kraus was born. During his studies in Göttingen the time appeared rife for him to devote his life completely to music. A fellow student from Sweden persuaded Kraus in 1778 to move to Stockholm. After three years of hardship and privation, the success of his first opera, "Proserpine" led King Gustav III, an art enthusiast, to appoint him as Royal Music Director of the Swedish Court. This appointment was linked with the obbligation to study both musical theater and the conditions for receiving musical training in the most important centers of Europe. One of the most important stops for Kraus, as a composer, on his four-year journey (autumn 1782 through 1786) was in Vienna, where he sought out Gluck, Haydn, Albrechtsberger and Salieri, but apparently he did not visit Mozart, which says a great deal about his musical orientation. An enormous amount of work awaited Joseph Martin Kraus upon is return to Sweden. His most important task was to reorganize music and theater at the Court and to compose and perform his own works. His patron, Gustav III, was assassinated in March 1792 (Verdi used this incident as the plot of his opera "The Masked Ball"); a few months later, on 15 December 1792, Joseph Martin Kraus died of tuberculosis at the height of his creative powers. In addition to his early sacred works, the compositional output of Joseph Martin Kraus encompasses operas, stage and ballet music, Lieder, arias and cantatas with German, Swedish, Italian and French texts, symphonies and chamber music. Personal details
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Preface writer
Thomas Seedorf
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Ensemble
Salagon Quartett
The sonic and interpretational ideal of the Salagon Quartet focuses on their transparent, rhetorical and colorful style of playing that has evolved in the past decades through the use of historically accurate instruments and informed performance practice. The quartet has recorded music by Kraus, Haydn, Schubert, Boccherini, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Chausson on numerous CDs. Personal details
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Soloist - viola
Claudia Hofert
Mitglied des Salagon-Quartetts Personal details
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Soloist - violin
Christine Busch
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Soloist - violin
Kathrin Tröger
Mitglied des Salagon-Quartetts Personal details
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Soloist - violoncello
Gesine Queyras
Mitglied des Salagon-Quartetts Personal details
Reviews
[...] Die hier aufgenommenen Streichquartette Joseph Martin Kraus' weisen eine relativ große Bandbreite an Ausdrucksgesten auf, die vom Salagon Quartett liebevoll und mit Spitzigkeit unterstrichen werden. [...]
Tobias Pfleger
klassik.com, 01.10.2006
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