Orlando Quartet - Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76 Nos. 4 & 6 (2006)

Founded in Holland in 1976 by the Romanian cellist Stefan Metz, with two German colleagues and a Norwegian, the Orlando Quartet enjoyed a very rapid ascent and a dazzling reputation, before disappearing in 1997. After working with Zoltàn Székely (first violin of the Hungarian String Quartet), and then with violinist and quartettist Sándor Végh, the young ensemble took several international prizes. Quickly snapped up by Philips, they soon began to put out recordings which met with great international success, and which included several of Hayden's quartets (op. 54 and the present album, dedicated to two quartets from op. 76), the quartets of Debussy and Ravel, Mozart's string quartets and his Oboe Quartet with Heinz Holliger, and a remarkable version of Schubert's Death and the Maiden (Quartet n° 14). Set apart by its coherence and the vitality of its performances, the Orlando Quartet has recorded about 20 discs and has given numerous concerts in Europe and the US, where the press noticed the romantic character of their performances We are also indebted to them for their performances of the works of Marius Constant, Pēteris Vasks, Alfred Schnittke and Isang Yun.