Cuarteto Casals
Spain's Cuarteto Casals started out ambitious and has only grown more so over its two decades of existence. The quartet has equally cultivated central Classical and Romantic works, especially the quartets of Beethoven, Spanish repertory, and newly commissioned contemporary pieces.
Named for cellist Pablo Casals, the quartet was formed in 1997 at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. The members -- first violinist Vera Martínez Mehner, second violinist Abel Tomàs, violist Jonathan Brown, and cellist Arnau Tomas -- were students of Antonello Farulli, and they undertook further study in Barcelona and then in Cologne, Germany, with the Alban Berg Quartet. The studies resulted in a pair of major competition first prizes at the London International String Quartet Competition in 2000 and the International Brahms Competition in Hamburg in 2002. The group has appeared at such halls as the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Musikverein in Vienna, New York's Carnegie Hall, and London's Wigmore Hall, where it has received strong critical praise from the British press. The quartet's concerts have included new works by the likes of Christian Lauba, György Kurtág, Jordi Cervelló, James MacMillan, and David del Puerto. In 2008, the Cuarteto Casals earned an award from London's Borletti-Buitoni Trust that allowed the members to purchase a matching set of Classical-era bows, a major contributor to the homogeneous sound that has become the quartet's trademark. First and second violinists Mehner and Abel Tomàs are able, unusually, to exchange roles at times. Beginning with a recording of quartets by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga in 2003, the Cuarteto Casals has recorded exclusively for the Harmonia Mundi label.
The quartet's recordings have included works by Debussy, Mozart, Brahms, Haydn, Schubert, Luigi Boccherini during his Spanish period, various contemporary composers, and, from 2018 to 2020, a complete cycle of Beethoven's string quartets, which the group also presented in a European tour in concerts where the Beethoven works were paired with new pieces composed especially for the occasion. The recipients of Spain's National Music Prize, the Cuarteto Casals served as quartet-in-residence at the Barcelona Conservatory. In 2021, the quartet released an album featuring three of Mozart's Six Quartets Dedicated to Haydn, returning in 2023 with a string quartet adaptation of Bach's The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
20 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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J.S. Bach: The Art of Fugue
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 9 Jun 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Boccherini: La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 25 Aug 2011
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joseph Haydn : The Seven Last Words of Christ
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Mar 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: The String Quartet & Piano Quintet, Op. 34
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 22 Aug 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 25 Aug 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Apotheosis. Beethoven: The Complete String Quartets III
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Apr 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Revelations, 2
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Mar 2019
5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Inventions 2
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Jun 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Schubert : String Quartets (Quatuors à cordes) D.87 & D.887
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 30 Jul 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Inventions 3
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Jun 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : Revelations, 1
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Inventions 1
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Jun 2018
5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Revelations, 3
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Mar 2019
5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn K. 421, 458 'Hunt', 464
Chamber Music - Released by harmonia mundi on 3 Sep 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 33
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Sep 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: String Quartets, Op.33
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Sep 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: String Quartet, K. 465 "Dissonance"
Chamber Music - Released by harmonia mundi on 26 Aug 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
20th century String Quartets
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 12 Jun 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arriaga: String Quartets
Quartets - Released by harmonia mundi on 24 Feb 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók, Kurtág, Ligeti: Metamorphosis
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 24 Aug 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo