Contact
Kathrin Feldmann-Uhlkf@karstenwitt.com +49 30 214 594-241
Maï Handalmh@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -229
General Management
Passionate, intense, balanced, multi-faceted, intimate: the Brahms CD by the Gringolts Quartet, released in June, was chosen by BBC Music Magazine as Recording of the Month.
The new CD by the Gringolts Quartet received outstanding reviews and was awarded a Diapason d'or.
In the FAZ, Ilya Gringolts is portrayed as a musician with enormous stylistic range and unwavering integrity.
Joseph Haydn, String Quartet E major Op 17, 1
Valentin Silvestrov, Quartett No. 1
György Kurtág, 12 Microludien op. 13
Dmitri Schostakowitsch, String Quarte No. 10 in A-flat major, Op. 118
Gringolts Quartet
Ilya Gringolts, violin
Johannes Brahms, String Quartet No. 2 A minor op. 51/2
Arnold Schönberg, String Quartet No.4, Op. 37
Anna Korsun, New work for violin and cello (commissioned by klangundszene)
Alexander Glasunow, String quartet No.5, Op. 70
Dmitri Schostakowitsch, Piano Quintet G minor Op. 57
Alexeï Volodin, piano
Nikolai Medtner, selected works for piano solo
Mieczysław Weinberg, Piano Trio in A minor, op. 24
Heinz Holliger, Increschantüm for soprano and String Quartet
Franz Schubert, String Quartet No. 15 in G major D 887
Sarah Wegener, soprano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, String Quintet No. 2 in C minor K. 406/516b
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, String quintet E-Flat Major KV 614
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, String Quintet D major, KV 593
Lily Francis, viola
Heinz Holliger, Increschantüm for Soprano and String Quartet (2014)
Hugo Wolf, Italian Serenade g major
Ilya Gringolts, violinAnahit Kurtikyan, violinSilvia Simionescu, violaClaudius Herrmann, violoncello
Gringolts leads his quartet with impressive selflessness, deploying his ardent but tightly focused violin tone to set the outer boundaries of the ensemble sound ... The viola player Silvia Simionescu, in particular, sounded like a kindred spirit to Gringolts, with a burnt umber tone that resembled Jonas Kaufmann’s lower register. But the Gringolts Quartet’s rhythmic drive, its translucency and its cinematic shifts from one dynamic level to another were a collective achievement; and they felt instinctive ... a performance that lays bare the full, sublime vastness of Dvorak’s imagination. The Spectator, 2021
The Zurich-based Gringolts Quartet was born from mutual friendships and chamber music partnerships that cross four countries: over the years, the Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts, the Romanian violist Silvia Simionescu, and the Armenian violinist Anahit Kurtikyan frequently performed together in various chamber formations at distinguished festivals; the German cellist Claudius Herrmann played with Anahit Kurtikyan in the renowned Amati Quartet. In the Gringolts Quartet, the four musicians inspire with their radiant, fused, and at the same time finely differentiated ensemble sound.
Highlights from past seasons include performances at the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Verbier Festival, and Gstaad Menuhin Festival. They also regularly perform in international concert halls, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall London, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Stockholm Konserthuset, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, St. Petersburg Philharmonia, L'Auditori Barcelona, Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, Lugano Musica, and Società di Concerti in Milan. In the 2023/24 season, the quartet will tour Italy with American violist Lily Francis, performing Mozart's string quintets on period instruments and gut strings. It will also appear in a concert with Heinz Holliger at the Zurich Opera House, in several concerts at the Mizmorim Festival in Basel, at the Turku Music Festival, and at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, among others.
The musical partners of the group include artists such as Leon Fleischer, Jörg Widmann, David Geringas, Malin Hartelius, Christian Poltéra, and Eduard Brunner. Aside from classical repertoire for string quartet, they are also dedicated performers of contemporary music, including string quartets by Marc-André Dalbavie, Jörg Widmann, Jens Joneleit, and Lotta Wennäkoski.
The Gringolts Quartet has attracted attention among critics and audiences with their exquisite CD recordings of works by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Together with David Geringas, the Gringolts Quartet participated in the world premiere recording of Walter Braunfels’ quintet in 2012, which was awarded a "Supersonic Award" as well as an ECHO Klassik award. Their CD of quintets by Glazunov and Taneyev with Christian Poltéra was released in the spring of 2016 and was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Jointly with Meta4, a recording with the octets by Mendelssohn and Enescu was published by BIS in 2020 and awarded the Quarterly Prize of the German Record Critics. Also on BIS records, a CD with Schönberg's string quartets Nos. 2 and 4, praised by Klassik Heute as a "reference recording", was released in 2017, "triumphally confirmed" (Rondo, Eleonore Büning) from the release of the second volume with the quartets Nos. 1 and 3 in spring 2022, for which the quartet again received a Diapason d'Or.
The members of the Gringolts Quartet all play on rare Italian instruments: Ilya Gringolts plays a Giuseppe Guarneri "del Gesù" violin, Cremona 1742-43, on loan from a private collection. Anahit Kurtikyan plays a Camillo Camilli violin, Mantua 1733. Silvia Simionescu plays a Jacobus Januarius viola, Cremona 1660. Claudius Herrmann plays a Maggini cello, Brescia 1600. Prince Golizyn, who was a great admirer of Beethoven, gave the first performances of the composer’s last string quartets, which he commissioned, on this instrument.
2023/24 season
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
Quartet recitals
I A. Glazunov: String Quartet No. 5 in D minor, Op. 70 Valentin Silvestrov: String Quartet No. 1 D. Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 15. in E-flat minor, Op. 144
II J. Haydn: String Quartet in E major No. 1, Op. 17; Hob. III: 25. H. Wolf: Italian Serenade G major F. Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor D 810 "Death and the Maiden"
III A. Dvorak: String Quartet No. 11 in C major, Op. 61R. Schumann: String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 41 L. Janacek: String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters"
Programme with Sarah WegenerJ. Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 17 No 1 in E majorHeinz Holliger: Increschantüm for soprano and string quartetD. Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 15 E flat minor, Op. 144
Quartet +
Piano quintet with Dénes Várjon S. Veress: String Quartet No. 1B. Bartók: Piano Quintet
4+4=8 – Octet with MetaJ. Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 76 No. 1 (Gringolts Quartet)J. Brahms: String Quartet No. 3 B-flat major, Op. 67 (Meta 4) F. Mendelssohn: Octet, Op. 20 OR G. Enescu: Octet, Op. 7
Or both octets in one concert
Special Themes
Beethoven & Contemporary 1L. v. Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 135 F majorL. Wennäkoski: Culla d'ariaL. v. Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 59/2 E minor
Beethoven & Contemporary 2L. v. Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 18/6 B majorH. Dutilleux: ...ainsi la nuitL. v. Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 59/2 E minor
ViennaJ. Haydn: String Quartet Op. 76/1 G majorJ. Brahms: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 51/2A. Schönberg: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37
"In this superb recording, the Gringolts Quartet and violist Lilli Maijala do the quintets proud, with a passionate, committed account that seems to employ 360 degrees of expressive technique. There’s a wealth of characterisation within this richly unified, bronze-dark ensemble. A deep-dug, chunky tone, often quite rugged, is offset by moments of intense sweetness, as well as great delicacy and refinement. Besides being beautifully balanced and transparent, some of the softest passages acquire an ‘innigkeit’ (introspection) that can make you hold your breath. (...) Most pleasing of all is that this multifaceted, technicolour playing brings out the best in Brahms by never chasing mere effect or turning to shouty exaggeration."
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, Jessica Duchen, 9 July 2024 - on the CD with String Quintets by Brahms, BIS-2727
“Gringolts leads his quartet with impressive selflessness, deploying his ardent but tightly focused violin tone to set the outer boundaries of the ensemble sound ... The viola player Silvia Simionescu, in particular, sounded like a kindred spirit to Gringolts, with a burnt umber tone that resembled Jonas Kaufmann’s lower register. But the Gringolts Quartet’s rhythmic drive, its translucency and its cinematic shifts from one dynamic level to another were a collective achievement; and they felt instinctive ... a performance that lays bare the full, sublime vastness of Dvorak’s imagination.”
The Spectator, Richard Bratby, 4 September 2021 - on Dvoraks String Quartet No. 13, Op. 106
"The Gringolts Quartet play both works with absolute mastery, and it would be difficult to imagine more convincing performances. Lingering particularly in the memory is the middle section of the quasi-slow movement in the Quartet No. 1, with its radiant viola melody beautifully played by Silvia Simionescu. This is a really important release."
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, Misha Donat, 24 Juin 2022 - on Schönberg's String Quartet No. 1 in D minor Op. 7 and String Quartet No. 3 Op. 30
“This collaboration between Ilya Gringolts’ Zurich-based quartet and Finland’s Meta4 gets things right. They’re alive to every mercurial mood shift, dropping to a whisper and shedding vibrato in the development’s shadier corners. [...] The playing is incendiary. [...] Trust me – buy a copy.”
THE ARTS DESK, Graham Rickson, 27 June 2020 - on the CD with octets by Mendelssohn and Enescu with Meta4, BIS-2447
"The technical virtuosity of the Gringolts pays huge dividends for they are able to play it so accurately and with such apparent ease that what the notes describe as the “laborious details” do not get in the way of an emotionally dramatic experience. (…) Very highly recommended."
MusicWeb International, Dave Billinge, 03 Juin 2022 - on Schönberg's String Quartet No.3 Op.30
“An outstanding coupling.”
THE STRAD, Julian Haylock, 26 March 2020 - on the CD with octets by Mendelssohn and Enescu with Meta4, BIS-2447
“In the slow second movement, the audience experienced the magical moment when the Ensemble layered the slow sequences on top of each other with calmness and abandonment. It was as if I was watching a clockmaker who carefully assembles a clock with tweezers and love. In the concert hall, there was transcendence and quietness while the musicians let the end of the movement slowly fall into silence, note by note.“
BACHTRACK, Stefan Pillhofer, 11 July 2020 - on the CD with octets by Mendelssohn and Enescu with Meta4, BIS-2447
“The Gringolts Quartet lent Haydn's work a very refined and yet powerful dynamic, with differentiations notable even in the extremes. The four musicians produced a very transparent sound. [...] In the extremely rapid final movement,the musicians set off highly virtuoso fireworks.”
BNN, Karl-Heinz Fischer, 28 January 2019
“There hasn’t been such a persuasive case for Schoenberg’s music for years, making this CD my new reference recording.”
KLASSIK-HEUTE, Martin Blaumeiser, 28 September 2017 - on the Schönberg CD
“Beautifully integrated sound; immaculate execution of impeccable, mature interpretations, charismatic on-stage and, above all: they are purely about the music. Striking a fine balance of profundity and humour for both Haydn and Brahms, they left their audience enraptured or tittering in all the right places. They convincingly adapted their sound to be classically vibrato-free for one then full-fat Romantic for the other.”
HERALD SCOTLAND, Svend McEwan-Brown, 12 August 2017
Schönberg String Quartet No. 4
Tonhalle St. Gallen 18 December 2021Schönberg String Quartet No. 4, Op. 37
Making Of Tanejew & Glasunow CD
Gringolts QuartetLilli Maijala (viola)BIS-2727
Gringolts Quartet,BIS Records, 2022, BIS-2567
Gringolts Quartet, Meta4BIS Records, 2020, BIS-2447
Gringolts Quartet, Malin Hartelius (Soprano)BIS Records, 2016, BIS-2267
Gringolts Quartet,Christian Poltéra (Cello)BIS Records AB, 2016, BIS-2177 | SACD
Gringolts QuartetPeter Laul (Piano)Orchid Classics, 2014, ORC100042
Gringolts Quartet,Ryszard Groblewski (Viola), David Geringas (Cello), Dariusz Mizera (Double Bass)Edition Günter Hänssler, 2012, PH 12053
Gringolts Quartet,Peter Laul (Piano)Onyx, 2011, ONYX4081