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The namesake of the delian::quartett is the Greek god Apollo who was worshipped as god of the fine arts, the muses and especially music, and also named Delian after his place of birth, the island of Delos. “What is outstanding about this Quartet”, stated the Hessian Broadcasting Company in October 2008, “is, firstly, the absolutely vibrant, personal colouring of their interpretations and the ability to also spontaneously react with interest to what the public shows, to absorb their vibrations and energies and transform them into music. This makes every concert a unique experience.”
Ever since the year it was founded in 2007 the doors of the big houses and important festivals opened for the delian::quartett. The echo of the ensemble’s first concerts catapulted them “practically overnight” (Die Rheinpfalz) right to the centre of the international concert scene. In 2008 the classic-magazines crescendo and ensemble, amongst others, devoted major articles to the spectacular career of the “shooting star delian::quartett”, the FAZ predicted that the “enchantingly musicking” delian::quartett would “undoubtedly lose its status as an insiders’ tip very soon”. The debut of the delian::quartett at the Berliner Philharmonie in 2009, with guest Menahem Pressler, sparked off genuine torrents of enthusiasm; the Quartet was received with standing ovations already after the opening piece. Since then the ensemble has performed, acclaimed by public and press alike, in major concert seasons and venues in Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal and – as artistic ambassadors of the Goethe Institute - in Africa. The Quartet has also been a celebrated guest in France, Luxembourg, Romania, Czech Republic and Denmark, as well in Austria where they were invited to play in the Wiener Musikverein for the first time in 2009. The delian::quartett soon grew out of their “shooting star” image to being regarded as “one of the internationally most important ensembles” and “highly esteemed quartet” (from press releases). The ensemble’s unconventional programmes make many of the delian-projects an “authentic event” (Bonner General-Anzeiger) and a “fascination” (Frankfurter Neue Presse). The Quartet’s “breathtaking interpretations” (Ostthüringer Zeitung), which appear like a “new birth from the spirit of music“ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) regularly attract attention. The ensemble’s unique personality as a whole also meets with great appreciation: a “wonderful sonority and striking plasticity of structures” (FAZ), in the face of which even so always ruled: “truth goes here before beauty” (Der Tagesspiegel).
Vigorous cooperation binds the delian::quartett with various broadcasting corporations such as the SWR, HR, WDR, Catalunya Música, Radio France, Danmarks Radio, BR, SR, ORF and Deutschlandfunk, which have broadcast live recordings of their performances, presented the “premium wine delian::quartett “ (Radio France) in diverse portrait broadcasts and co-produced the CDs of the ensemble. The debut CD of the Quartet with works of Robert Schumann which already appeared in 2008 with the label Oehms Classics stayed for over a year in the new issue top charts in the renowned music magazine crescendo; the radio station BR Klassik introduced it as the editor’s choice. The second recording of the ensemble issued in 2010 with works of Joseph Haydn received likewise highly acclaimed appraisal: among other honours, it became a reference CD in the classic portal Klassik Heute with “highest possible marks on the entire line” and was awarded a nomination for the Echo Klassik 2010. In 2013 it was followed, together with violist Gérard Caussé, by another recording dedicated to the chamber music of L.v. Beethoven, which was recommended as a CD-tip by the broadcasting station Ö1/ORF. A double CD about the oeuvre by Dmitri Shostakovich, in cooperation with pianist Anatol Ugorski, was published in 2016. „A subtle and rewarding performance“ (the Strad), it was internationally welcomed with highest enthusiasm; amongst others the radio station SWR presented it as the editor’s choice, and it has been part of the Album Selection at Lufthansa. In 2018 the delian::quartett‘s celebrated performance of Chausson’s Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet Op. 21, together with Liza Ferschtman and Benjamin Moser, was included as a live-recording in the Jubilee-Edition Klavier-Festival Ruhr. In the same year the ensemble’s double CD “Cantai” was released, with J.S. Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge (BWV 1080) and, together with soprano Claudia Barainsky, Pierini’s Cantai un tempo…, which had been written for the delian::quartett. “Giving us all of the music’s stunning complexity, and taking us on a breathtaking intellectual ride in which both clarity of musical argument and a sense of joy are communicated” (MusicWeb International), this recording was likewise chosen for the Album Selection at Lufthansa.
A big commitment of the delian::quartett applies, beneath the care for the existing string quartet literature ranging from the early Baroque to the present day, the enlargement of the repertoire. They have premiered works by living composers Alberto Colla, Per Arne Glorvigen, Gabriel Iranyi, Christian Jost, Stefano Pierini and Uljas Pulkkis; most of those works have been inscribed to the Quartet. In 2019 Aribert Reimann dedicated his opus on Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe und –leben to the delian::quartett and soprano Claudia Barainsky. The delian::quartett’s musical activity has received enrichment and additional inspiration through regular performance with other artists of international stature in expanded ensembles. The guests of the Quartet include Gilles Apap, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Claudia Barainsky, Fabio Bidini, Matthias Brandt, Measha Brueggergosman, Gabriele Carcano, Gérard Caussé, die Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, Ya Dong, Stella Doufexis, Mojca Erdmann, José Luis Estellés, Liza Ferschtman, Andreas Frölich, Bruno Ganz, Christian Gerber, Pavel Gililov, Bernd Glemser, Per Arne Glorvigen, das Henschel-Quartett, Igor Kamenz, Hisako Kawamura, Michel Lethiec, Peter Lohmeyer, Ralph Manno, Benjamin Moser, Sergei Nakariakov, Ulrich Noethen, Adrian Oetiker, Alfredo Perl, Menahem Pressler, Hartmut Rohde, David Rott, François Salque, Ragna Schirmer, Harald Schoneweg, Herbert Schuch, Sylvia Schwartz, Dora Schwarzberg, Lisa Smirnova, Heio von Stetten, Nina Tichman, Ulrich Tukur, Anatol Ugorski and Sophie-Mayuko Vetter.
Since 2017 the members of the delian::quartett appear as Pirastro-Artists and partners of the renowned string manufacturer. Adrian Pinzaru plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Rogeri, generously passed on to him by Christine Anderson; Andreas Moscho’s violin by Giovanni Francesco Pressenda is a big-hearted permanent loan from the Paderborn families Lödige and Jacoby. |
