Piano Quintet, Op. 44 / Quartet Op. 47 by Nils Anders Mortensen / Engegård Quartet

Robert Schumann

Nils Anders Mortensen / Engegård Quartet

Piano Quintet, Op. 44 / Quartet Op. 47

Format: CD
Label: Lawo Classics
UPC: 7090020182117
Catnr: LWC 1189
Release date: 07 February 2020
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Label
Lawo Classics

UPC
7090020182117

Catalogue number
LWC 1189

Release date
07 February 2020

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

The new release from Nils Anders Mortensen and the Engegård Quartet is devoted to Schumann’s quartet and quintet for piano and strings. Robert Schumann produced a large number of chamber music works in 1842, among them the piano quintet op. 44 and the piano quartet op. 47, both in E flat major. The works were composed at the same time, side by side, and the listener can hear definite similarities in both structure and mood, but also distinct differences.

Both works contain vigorous and expressive outer movements, in which inspiration from Mozart’s vitality and Bach’s counterpoint is combined with Schumann’s own imaginative signature in both dreamy and dramatic sections that follow each other in rapid succession. The scherzos in both works are virtuosic, with sharply contrasting middle sections. But the quintet contains a movement “in modo d’una marcia”, in march style, solemn enough to be a funeral march, and both poetic and fiery in nature. As for the quartet, it has a cantabile movement with an immortal cello melody.

The piano quartet and the piano quintet are cornerstones of the Romantic chamber music literature and contain some of Schumann’s most deeply personal musical moods.

With his critically acclaimed record releases and concerts as soloist with the principal Norwegian orchestras, Nils Anders Mortensen has distinguished himself as one of Norway’s leading pianists. He is employed as state musician in Finnmark County and is active as freelancer.

Formed under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2006, the Engegård Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway’s most sought after ensembles, known for its bold and fresh interpretations of the classical repertoire. The quartet has attracted international acclaim and performs regularly in Norway and abroad.

Artist(s)

Nils Anders Mortensen (piano)

Nils Anders Mortensen was born in Flekkefjord in 1971. He began playing piano at age three, and in 1986 he won the Norwegian Young Pianist Competition. He studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, École Normale in Paris, and Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Einar Steen-Nøkleberg. Other important teachers have been Tatjana Nikolajeva and Hans Leygraf.
Mortensen was the recipient of the prestigious Concerts Norway ‘Debutant of the Year’ award in 1996. He has won international prizes and grants. In 1998 he won the Mozarteum Prize in Salzburg. In 2004 Mortensen received the Robert Levin Memorial Prize.
Mortensen has appeared as soloist with Norway’s leading orchestras. He recorded piano concertos of Geirr Tveitt with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. His first solo album Im Freien (LWC1032), featuring music of Debussy, Grieg, and Bartók, was released in 2012 to glowing reviews.
Mortensen has also released 12 recordings with mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland on the LAWO Classics label: Früh (LWC1033), Sæle jolekveld (LWC1040), Grieg (LWC1059), Young Elling (LWC1072), The New Song (LWC1097), Whispering Mozart (LWC1111), Songs: Kielland/Dørumsgaard (LWC1145), Einsamkeit – Songs by Mahler (LWC1157), Eivind Groven Songs (LWC1178), Schumann Lieder (LWC1197) with baritone Johannes Weisser, and Så kort ein sommar menneska har – Songs by Gisle Kverndokk (LWC1220), and Sigurd Lie Songs, Vol. 1 (LWC1256.
In 2015 he released the solo recording In finstrer Mitternacht (LWC1084), featuring music of Brahms, and Tundra (LWC1092), a recording of solely Russian music, with double-bassist Knut Erik Sundquist. In 2016 he released Schumann: Violin Sonatas Op. 105 & Op. 121 (LWC1110) with violinist Arvid Engegård. In 2019 he released his third solo recording on the LAWO Classics label, Bach: Ouvertüre nach Französischer Art, BWV 831 / Sarabande con Partite, BWV 990 / Englische Suite Nr. 6 d-Moll, BWV 811 (LWC1174), and in 2020 he released Schumann: Piano Quintet, Op. 44 / Piano Quartet, Op. 47 (LWC1189) with the Engegård Quartet. His fourth solo recording, J.S. Bach: Partitas Nos. 1, 5 & 6 (LWC1249), was released in 2023.

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Engegård Quartet

Arvid Engegård – violin Alex Robson – violin Juliet Jopling – viola Jan Clemens Carlsen – cello Formed under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2006, the Engegård Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway’s most sought after ensembles. Their bold, fresh interpretations of the classical repertoire combined with a deep attachment to their Scandinavian roots has attracted international acclaim, and inspired some innovative partnerships and programming. The quartet’s debut CD was praised as ‘breathtaking’ in The Strad, while their second release won Pizzicato magazine’s ‘Supersonic Award’. Their CD of works by Grieg, Sibelius, and Olav Anton Thommessen was praised by Tully Potter in Music Web International as ‘what Grieg lovers have been waiting for’. The Engegård Quartet has a busy concert schedule throughout Scandinavia...

Arvid Engegård – violin Alex Robson – violin Juliet Jopling – viola Jan Clemens Carlsen – cello Formed under the midnight sun in Lofoten in 2006, the Engegård Quartet has rapidly become one of Norway’s most sought after ensembles. Their bold, fresh interpretations of the classical repertoire combined with a deep attachment to their Scandinavian roots has attracted international acclaim, and inspired some innovative partnerships and programming. The quartet’s debut CD was praised as ‘breathtaking’ in The Strad, while their second release won Pizzicato magazine’s ‘Supersonic Award’. Their CD of works by Grieg, Sibelius, and Olav Anton Thommessen was praised by Tully Potter in Music Web International as ‘what Grieg lovers have been waiting for’.
The Engegård Quartet has a busy concert schedule throughout Scandinavia and further afield. They have performed in some of Europe’s finest venues including the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Prague’s Rudolfinum, as well as performing in South America with concerts in Bogotá and Sao Paolo. Festival performances include the Delft Chamber Music Festival, SoNoRo Festival in Bucharest, and Heidelberg’s Streichquartettfest. Members of the quartet are also deeply involved in bringing superb chamber music to Norway – Arvid Engegård as founder of the Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival, and Juliet Jopling as artistic director of the Oslo Quartet Series.
The Engegård Quartet has had the honour to work with (among others) András Schiff, Leif Ove Andsnes, Christian Ihle Hadland, and Emma Johnson. They also love to collaborate with colleagues from different musical traditions, including a folk/classical fusion with Hardanger fiddler Nils Økland, a collaboration with jazz violinist Ola Kvernberg, and a programme of Ibsen and late Beethoven with actor Bjørn Sundquist. The Engegård Quartet’s own ‘1-2-3 mini-festival’ has proven immensely popular and is now a regular event each year, providing a feast of chamber music, song, piano works, and lectures.

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Composer(s)

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.
Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Works such as Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C are among his most famous. His writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.
In 1840, Schumann married Friedrich Wieck's daughter Clara, against the wishes of her father, following a long and acrimonious legal battle, which found in favour of Clara and Robert. Clara also composed music and had a considerable concert career as a pianist, the earnings from which, before her marriage, formed a substantial part of her father's fortune.
Schumann suffered from a mental disorder, first manifesting itself in 1833 as a severe melancholic depressive episode, which recurred several times alternating with phases of ‘exaltation’ and increasingly also delusional ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic items. After a suicide attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to a mental asylum, at his own request, in Endenich near Bonn. Diagnosed with "psychotic melancholia", Schumann died two years later in 1856 without having recovered from his mental illness.

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