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Sidonija Lebar, violin
About Members of Quartet
Second Violin Ana Paula
Knapić Franković
In the words of Pablo Neruda, the great poet of Latin America, '... like Mahler's or Brecht's, so is Piazzolla's soul immense and endlessly unfinished, his music talking about the dirty business of man, about despair and jealousy, passion and hopelessness, tiredness and weariness of emotions impregnated with smoke and sweat, with odours of the lily and of urine, sprayed with the diversity of deeds, legal or not... like the human body, his music is dirty like worn-out clothes, stained with food, like the human soul it is shadowed by its own shame and by the shame of what others have done, filled with tricks, clan-destine voyeurisms, dreams, fury, prophecies, declarations of love and hate, stupidity, shocks, idylls, political convictions, negations, premature suspicions, belated confirmations...'. According to America's most celebrated living author John Adams 'Piazzolla entered the northern hemisphere approximately at the same time with Neruda, Marquez, Vargas Llosa or Borges who were forcefully penetrating our limited notions of the vvorld in con-cert with many other Latin American literary voices. Their mixtures of brutality, magic, sensuality and honesty astonished us. The vitality of their expressive worlds, emotional achievements, incredible visions of man's capacities and situations and their humour smashed into the faces of crumbled political and economic burdens, gave us a painful blow that blew a new life into us. In the world of music, the discovery of Piazzolla equaled the discovery of some exotic, highly and dangerously povverful drug.' Gualdalupe Jolicoeur said that tango is ' the power that unites two strangers, even if for just one moment. It is a whis-per of carnality felt by the announce-ment of a perfume alone. It is the shine of the dancing hali, the charm of the underground, the luxury of Paris and the smoke-filled darkness of a Buenos Aires café. Tango creates the vvorld of fine comparisons that conquers one's soul'. Dražen Vrdoljak finds that tango is, 'like the blues, both music and the state of the soul'. Tango was born in the red-light zones of the suburban Buenos Aires in early 20th century, more or less at the same time and environment like the jazz in New Orleans. Before World War II the position of the all-acclaimed tango king Carlos Gardel could only be compared to the global stardom of Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong; their pro-motion of jazz grew into 'America's greatest contribution to the 20th century music'. Tango and jazz are not compared just by chance. From the pioneer jazz/tango improvisations of Jelly Roll Morton, pianist and composer in broth-els and cabarets of the debauching Storyville quarter of New Orleans, to the practice of Argentinean-originating Lalo Schifrin and Gato Barbieri, tango and jazz have so often spoken a common language. Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), highly educated musician felt the appeal of Bach's harmonies in his early youth. The Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos inspired him to try to amalgamate the west European with exotic musical elements, which was greatly enhanced at his studies with Alberto Ginastera, another great South-American author. His stay in Paris and studies with the shrewd Nadia Boulanger, cleared up his dilemmas of style between Stravinsky, Bartok, de Falla, Webern or Schönberg. Boulanger encouraged Piazzolla 'not to be ashamed of the bandoneon and of your own roots. Nay, let them inspire you!' Piazzolla's tango was first widely accepted by Argentinean intellectual elite, before it went to conquer Europe, largely supported by most prominent musicians as are violinist Gidon Kremer, ceilist Yo-Yo Ma and the Kronos Ouartet (project: Four for Tango, 1988). Eight years after Piazzolla's Five Tango Sensations was published, Peter Soave and the Rucner Ouartet are presenting an interesting reinterpretation of the piece (tango is never played the same way!). Often on Piazzolla's own concert bills and recordings, the five pieces, lyrical and dramatic, versatile blends of American, Spanish, German, Jewish, Italian and other roots excel ali the features that have earned them their global glory. D. Detoni Our four string players brought out all features of the composition by playing with technical perfection and synchronised sound while being thoroughly immersed in their interpretation. It was memorable performance of Ravel so it was not surprising that they received long greetings from the audience. Nenad Turkalj, Vjesnik (1999) Along with mesmerising tango, Rucner Quartet performed the only Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet. Their deeply concentrated playing calls for listening to more of their live performances. Maja Stanetti, VEČERNJI LIST (1999) Peter Soave performed with the Rucner Quartet the Five Tango Sensation by A. Piazzolla, which they recorded two years ago on the CD for the Jazzette label of Boško Petrović. We had the opportunity to agree with the world critics saying that their interpretation overpasses interpretation of Piazzolla by himself with famous Kronos Quartet to which the pieces were dedicated...The first half of the concert too was not lacking in emotions and musical atmos-phere. It began with the First String Quartet by Brazilian composer Hektor Villa Lobos. As in an electric bulb, a thread of deep concentration was sparking and shining between uncompromisingly energetic cello of Snježana Rucner and first violin of Jože Haluza during the whole performance, enhancing their bonest approach to a difficult task of quartet playing which is a pure joy for them. Branimir Pofuk, JUTARNJI LIST (2000) The Rucner Quartet works as a homogenous unit, their sound is refined and all interpretations are worked out in detail. The most attractive feature of their performance is passionate playing by each member of the ensemble. Jelena Knešaurek, HRVATSKO SLOVO (2000) By itself the Rucner Quartet is more intense, passionate and unbridled than Kronos - which by contrast seems to be playing Händel. Dr. Paul A. Magistretti, THE FREE-REED REVIEW (2000)----2005---- The third chamber music cycle 'Four Seasons' of The Rucner Quartett has started! SPRING * Playful spring sounds * This concert has also confirmed the obvious marvelous coordination of the ensemble. It has been long since we've heard such a performance of Mozart String Quartett in C-major (Dissonant). Vjesnik, April, by Nenad Turkalj SUMMER * Passionate Quartett and two tuba soloists *
To perform as a composer or guest in the cycle 'Four Seasons' is a thing of
prestige, but first of all a pleasure. (...) One of the biggest qualities of
The Rucner Quartett is the fact that their music making is always permeated
with solid, clearly stated character and a passionate subordance to music.
And only such a music making can be sincerely thrilling and persuasive,
which the Quartett has shown with their soul-stirring performance of the
legendary Dmitri Šoštakovič 8th Quartett. (...) At the end of the concert
the two tuba soloists together with the Rucner Quartett have literally
shaken the concert hall and caused an uproar by performing the Rumanian
Dance of Ionel Dumitru. AUTUMN * Fruitful Autumn of the Rucner Quartett *
Perfectly set musical programme, excellently performed. (...) With great
sense for articulation of the detail, but also for a balanced and unified
sound, the ensemble has performed Schubert quartett 'Death and the Maiden'. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peter
Soave
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