26 YEARS of AURYN !!!

AURYN Quartet

(Pronunciation : Au-, rhymes with wow!, -ryn, rhymes with queen; (the stress is on -Au.))

Barely recovered from its 25th anniversary celebrations, the Auryn Quartet has just observed its 26th birthday in the same formation.....well over a quarter-of-a-century of music-making !
Incidentally, the 8th of March 1981 was the day the four young musicians sat down for their first-ever rehearsal. After this "play-through" of the Brahms B-flat major quartet, the Schumann A-major and a Haydn quartet or two, it was obvious that the group could be a resounding success. A quarter of a century later, the press agreed:
".. This superb ensemble from Cologne simply came on stage and played, immediately radiating a palpable joy in music-making ... Each player has a contribution to make, but the sum of the parts is a balance of discipline, confidence, concentration, exquisite ensemble and magnificently assured playing" (Edinburgh Festival, Sunday Herald)
It was shortly after that meeting in March ´81, that the Quartet chanced upon the novel "The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende (...actually a German children´s author); in that book, the word AURYN kept jumping off the page. Anybody who has read this novel will know, that the "AURYN" is an amulet that bestows its bearer with a capacity to realise his/her dreams, and an ability to access extraordinary powers of imagination. It seemed a wonderful, poetic name with which to beknight the Quartet, and so it remains ...
The West German Radio (WDR) also congratulated the Quartet on its 25th anniversary, by inviting it to play a cycle of the complete Beethoven quartets at the broadcasting house in Cologne, Germany. This comprised 6 concerts in April 2006. The Auryn Quartet´s recording (on Tacet) of all the Beethoven quartets was released last year to overwhelmingly ecstatic reviews:
"...At times, the Auryn performances seem so close to what one sees unfolding on the printed score that it is possible to believe you are hearing directly what Beethoven had in mind. Perhaps only the Busch Quartet had this kind of liberating vision." (The Gramophone, April 2005)
Not a comparison to be ashamed of!

And what of the future? Well, it seems that complete cycles of composers´ works are on the agenda for the Auryns :-
Fresh from a complete cycle of the Beethoven quartets for the Amici della Musica in Padova, Italy, the Quartet is looking forward to another complete Beethoven cycle in Hamburg, Germany in September 2008, as well as in in Arezzo, Italy.
As if that is not enough to quicken the pulse of our cyclical fans, 2009 is looming, and with it Papa Haydn! Yes, 200 years after the death of the originator of the quartet-form, we are playing the complete Haydn quartets in that year. Not only a complete cycle of Haydn for the WDR Radio in Cologne, thanks to the support of Mr.Bernhard Wallerius, but also one for our friends in Padova at the Amici della Musica. Each cycle comprises 18 concerts, which includes the “Seven Last Words of Jesus on the Cross”.
Other cities including Duisburg, Torino and London are also showing an interest....more about that later in the year.

The other significant development in the Auryn annual calender, is a new Festival ! In June this year a new chamber-music festival was launched by the Quartet in historic Este in Italy. This will be a regular event, thanks to the help of the mayor Dr. Piva, the Commune and people of the town of Este. And of course the Quartet´s thanks go also to its Italian agent Leonardo Finotti, who is tireless and undaunted in organising the festival! In 2008 the festival will take place from 15th to the 22nd June, and the Quartet will be joined by Nobuko Imai, viola, Liza Ferschtman, violin, Christian Poltéra, cello, Peter Orth, piano, and the Grieg Piano Trio. Johannes Brahms is the composer "in residence", so please come to see the Auryns and friends at work in beautiful Este.

Dear web-readers and listeners, we hope to see you at some of our concerts in the coming season, so that we can celebrate our next quarter-of-a-century of music-making with you personally, and thank you for your continuing support and interest!
Keep reading here for more up-dates!

Best wishes,
Stewart /Auryn.

3/2007

And here are some other biographical details that might interest you :-

The initial, and ultimately most profound influence on the Auryn Quartet´s evolution was the time spent in Cologne studying and playing with members of the Amadeus Quartet. Five years were spent in monthly exchanges with those great masters. A two-semester sabbatical at the University of Maryland, USA (in !987) with the Guarneri Quartet cemented the emerging Auryn style.
Of course, the obligatory competitions (London, Munich ARD, Bratislava (EU)Broadcasting Competition) helped the Quartet gain recognition during the early ´80s, and being signed on for several seasons by Columbia Artists Management (USA) ensured the break-through onto the world´s stages.
Since then, the Auryn Quartet has been ever-present on the international music scene . At this point it seems almost unnecessary to mention the countless festivals to which the Quartet has been invited ( Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lockenhaus, Gstaad, Mondsee, Beethoven-Fest Bonn, Les Arcs, Montepulciano etc.), and the numerous chamber-music partners the group has had over the decades ( Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christine Schaefer, Peter Orth, Alexander Lonquich, Nobuko Imai, Tabea Zimmermann, Eduard Brunner, Michael Collins, Christian Poltéra, Christian Altenburger, David Soyer and Michael Tree, to name but a few !) but it is interesting nonetheless!

About half the Auryns´ working time is spent travelling abroad, touring Great Britain (memorable concerts at the Wigmore Hall in London, and at the Edinburgh Festival), Italy, Austria, Switzerland and of course Canada and the USA . In Washington, D.C. the Quartet is artistic adviser to the Schubert Festival, an annual event held in Georgetown University´s historic Gaston Hall, and is a regular performer at the Frick Collection series in New York.

It is also important to mention the many CD recordings that the ensemble has made: the most recent being the above-mentioned complete Beethoven quartets. Their recording of the complete Schubert string quartets on cpo also garnered rave reviews, winning the prestigious French award, the Diapason d´Or. The CD of all Schumann string quartets prompted The Strad magazine to remark: "The playing, by a group that has been garnering golden opinions for two decades, is absolutely first rate."
The Auryns now work exclusively with the German-based Tacet recording company; the next visits to the studio will be to record all three of the Brahms string quartets, and the Schumann piano quartet (with pianist Peter Orth). Possible future projects are to record the Mendelssohn and Mozart string quintets, Brett Dean´s most recent quartet, and of course, more Haydn!

Teaching and coaching has become an integral part of the Quartet´s daily life in latter years. In 2004 the Auryns held a two-week symposium in Montepulciano for the European Academy, and the four musicians have been awarded professorships on the string faculty of the Musikhochschule in Detmold, Germany, where they teach a huge variety of chamber-music (by the way : open to non-resident students as well.. please apply!).

04.2006




"The Auryn plays with an enviable balance of abandon and discipline" American Record Guide

"In beauty and confidence of its playing, the Auryn somewhat recalled the now-disbanded Cleveland Quartet" San Antonio Express

"shared spirituality" The New York Times

"One left the Wigmore thinking of nothing but Schubert, for the Auryn Quartet gave a compellingly dramatic and magnificently assured performance." The Times, London

"... The excellent reputation of this Cologne ensemble is based upon perfect intonation, exquisite ensemble, a pleasing and sonorous timbre, and stylistically accurate, intense interpretations." FonoForum