Belcea Quartet Explained

The Belcea Quartet is a string quartet, formed in 1994, under the leadership of violinist Corina Belcea.

History

The quartet was formed while its members were studying at the Royal College of Music in London. Whilst there, they were coached by the Chilingirian Quartet. They subsequently studied with the Alban Berg Quartet^[1] at Cologne.

The quartet was one of the first groups to participate in the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, from 1999 to 2001. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 as part of the 'Distinctive Debuts' series.^[2] Their first performance at the Edinburgh International Festival was in August 2001.^[3] The Belcea Quartet were quartet in-residence at Wigmore Hall in London from 2001 to 2006. During their Wigmore residency, the quartet participated in the first performances of The Canticle of the Rose by Joseph Phibbs.^[4]

In the 2010/11 season, the Belcea Quartet gave the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage's new work for string quartet Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad at Wigmore Hall, Cologne Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Vienna Konzerthaus. In May 2011, they curated their own 'Beethoven & Schubert: Final Years’ project with concerts in Aldeburgh, the Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium and Philharmonie Luxembourg, collaborating with Imogen Cooper, Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore, Julius Drake and Valentin Erben. Towards the end of 2011, the Belcea Quartet embarked on an ambitious survey of the complete string quartets by Beethoven with cycles of concerts planned in the UK, Germany, Austria, Sweden and the USA.

The Belcea Quartet won the Gramophone Award for best debut recording in 2001. Their discography for EMI includes Fauré's La Bonne Chanson with Ian Bostridge; Schubert's Trout Quintet with Thomas Adès and Corin Long; a double disc of Britten's string quartets, which won a MIDEM Cannes Award; Mozart's "Dissonance" and "Hoffmeister" quartets; and the complete Bartók quartets, for which the Quartet was awarded the title Chamber Music Ensemble of the Year by Germany's Echo Klassik Awards and nominated for a 2008 Gramophone Award. Their release of a double disc of the late Schubert Quartets and the String Quintet with Valentin Erben for EMI, was nominated for a Gramophone Award.

The Belcea Quartet are Quartet in Residence Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and, from the beginning of the 2010/11 season, Ensemble in Residence at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

Current members

• Corina Belcea-Fisher, violin
• Suyeon Kang, violin, since 2022
• Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola
• Antoine Lederlin, cello, since 2006

Former members

• Alasdair Tait, cello, 1998–2006
• Laura Samuel, violin, until 2010
• Matthew Talty, cello, until 1998
• Axel Schacher, violin, 2010–2022

Recordings

Partial list of recordings:

• Debussy, Dutilleux, Ravel – String Quartets, 2001
• Schubert – String Quartets, 2002^[5]
• Brahms – String Quartets, 2004^[6]
• Britten – String Quartets, 2005^[7]
• Schubert – Trout Quintet (with pianist Thomas Adès), 2005^[8]
• Mozart – String Quartets, 2006 (original line-up)
• Bartók – Complete String Quartets, 2008
• Schubert – String Quintet (with Valentin Erben), Quartet in G, Quartet in D minor, 2009
• Beethoven – Complete String Quartets, 2014

References

• EMI Liner Notes
• EMI Germany page

External links

• Official website
• Home Page at their management agency
• MUSO magazine interview

Selected concert reviews

• Tim Ashley, "Belcea/ Bostridge/ Adès". The Guardian, 7 December 2001.
• Ivan Hewett, "Poise and personality". Telegraph, 9 July 2002.
• Tom Service, "Bostridge/ Drake/ Belcea Quartet". The Guardian, 19 August 2002.
• Geoffrey Norris, "Quest for the new". Telegraph, 31 October 2002.
• Geoffrey Norris, "Profundity and vision". Telegraph, 4 March 2003.
• David Fanning, "Aldeburgh Festival: precision of a madman". Telegraph, 24 June 2003.
• Andrew Clements, "The Turn of the Screw". The Guardian, 20 July 2004.
• Tom Service, "Belcea Quartet/Kildea". The Guardian, 1 November 2004.
• Erica Jeal, "Janacek at 150". The Guardian, 16 December 2004.
• Rian Evans, "An Evening in Buenos Aires" (review from Bath Festival). The Guardian, 7 June 2005.
• George Hall, review of June 2005 Wigmore Hall concert. The Guardian, 22 June 2005.
• Geoffrey Norris, "Four strings weave a taut web". Telegraph, 5 June 2006.
• Geoffrey Norris, "Apt tribute to Britten's originality". Telegraph, 5 December 2006.

Notes and References

1. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1658960,00.html Erica Jeal, "Belcea Quartet/Erben". The Guardian, 6 December 2005.
2. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E2D8103BF937A25750C0A9669C8B63 James R. Oestreich, "Robust Joking By Way of Haydn". New York Times, 14 March 2000.
3. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,704052,00.html Tim Ashley, "Belcea Quartet". The Guardian, 18 August 2001.
4. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1666769,00.html Andrew Clements, review of December 2005 Wigmore Hall concert with Lisa Milne. The Guardian, 14 December 2005.
5. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,885624,00.html Tim Ashley, "Schubert: 'Rosamunde' Quartet; Quartet in E Flat; Quartettsatz in C Minor". The Guardian, 31 January 2003.
6. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1141535,00.html Andrew Clements, "Brahms: String Quartet Op 51 no 1; String Quintet Op 111, Kakuska/ Belcea Quartet". The Guardian, 6 February 2004.
7. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1449217,00.html Andrew Clements, "Britten: String Quartets Nos 1–3; Three Divertimenti, Belcea Quartet". The Guardian, 1 April 2005.
8. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1477202,00.html Andrew Clements, "Adès: Piano Quintet; Schubert: Trout Quintet: Ades/Arditti Quartet/Belcea Quartet". The Guardian, 6 May 2005.