Adolphe Blanc: String Quintets No. 3, 4 and 7 fabergé-quintett

• 1 String Quintet No. 3, Op. 21: I. Allegro moderato 08:35
• 2 String Quintet No. 3, Op. 21: II. Moderato quasi andante 04:23
• 3 String Quintet No. 3, Op. 21: III. Allegro 05:21
• 4 String Quintet No. 4, Op. 22: I. Allegro risoluto 07:33
• 5 String Quintet No. 4, Op. 22: II. Andante quasi adagio 06:51
• 6 String Quintet No. 4, Op. 22: III. Allegro risoluto 03:07
• 7 String Quintet No. 4, Op. 22: IV. Finale. Allegro 04:57
• 8 String Quintet No. 7, Op. 50: I Allegro 09:09
• 9 String Quintet No. 7, Op. 50: II. Andante 07:38
• 10 String Quintet No. 7, Op. 50: III. Scherzo tarantelle. Allegro vivace 02:17
• 11 String Quintet No. 7, Op. 50: IV. Finale. Andante maestoso ? Allegro moderato 07:50
• Total Runtime 01:07:41

Info for Adolphe Blanc: String Quintets No. 3, 4 and 7

In quintet music with double-bass two great works stand out: Dvorak's famous String Quintet op. 77 and the even better-known Trout Quintet by Schubert. Most audiences would be hard put to name further valuable works for this arrangement of strings but Hamburg's Fabergé Quintet have rediscovered three such and deservingly recorded them for the first time: the String Quintets Nos. 3, 4 and 7 by the 19th-century French composer Adolphe Blanc (1828-1885).

Classical or romantic chamber music was little composed between 1820 and 1870 in France, the public being excited primarily by opera and instrumental programme music, but amongst the serious composers of French chamber music during this period - aside from George Onslow and Louise Farrenc - was the violin and viola player Adolphe Blanc. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Fromental Halévy (the teacher of Gounod and Bizet) and at times worked as the orchestra conductor of the respected Parisian 'Theatre Lyrique'. Blanc's chamber music is extensive: as well as seven string quintets, he penned string trios and quartets, piano trios, quartets and quintets and a septet for wind, strings and piano.

Formally Blanc generally oriented his compositions to the established if by his time already somewhat outdated patterns of the Viennese classics. How originally and inventively he was able to write within this framework is proven for the first time by the five members of the NDR Symphony Orchestra who comprise the Fabergé Quintet in the three remarkable string quintets they have recorded here.

„The recording is light in tone, as befits the mood of the music and performances, though I wonder whether the double-bass actually sounded as well integrated with the other instruments. Not only was Blanc’s music new to me, this was one of my first encounters with the German Es-Dur label and not all suppliers seem to stock it.“ Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International)

Rodrigo Reichel, violin
Frauke Kuhlmann, violin
Bettina Lenz, violin
Gerhard Sibbing, viola
Sven Forsberg, cello
Peter Schmidt, double bass

Recorded in 2003 and 2005 Rolf-Liebermann-Studio, Hamburg
Tonmeister: Dirk Lüdemann
Toningenieur: Katja Zeidler (2003)
Johannes Kutzner (2005)
Mastering: Udo Potratz

Rodrigo Reichel
studied at the Musikhochschulen in Cologne and Munich with Max Rostal, Kurt Guntner and members of the Amadeus Quartet.

His first orchestral engagement was as a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He went on to join the North German Radio Symphony, where he holds the position of principal second violin.

His chamber music roots trace back to both classical music and jazz. In 1993, he was a founder of „the g-strings“, an ensemble that appears at many renowned classical and jazz festivals. In 2000, he became the leader of the fabergé quintet.

His musical partners include José Carreras, Nils Landgren, Renée Fleming, and Christoph Eschenbach.

Gerhard Sibbing
was born in Bonn in 1962 and studied violin at the Cologne Musikhochschule before pursuing viola studies with Prof. Hariolf Schlichtig in Aachen and David Takeno in London.

He has been a member of the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn, and has held the position of associate-principal viola with the North German Radio Symphony since 1991.

He is also a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.

Sven Forsberg
was born in Uppsala, Sweden and studied with Gunnar Norrby at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and Christoph Henkel at the Musikhochschule Freiburg im Breisgau. He also participated in masterclasses for cello and chamber music with Tortelier, Starker, Pleeth, Parisot, Kuijken and the Amadeus Quartet. An international scholarship from the Swedish Academy of Music gave him the opportunity to have cello lessons with Pierre Fournier in Geneva. After an engagement with the Stockholm Radio Orchestra, he won a position with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande at just 22 years of age. In 1985, Sven Forsberg debuted at Wigmore Hall in London, and spent a season as a member of the Neues Zürcher Quartet. He was a member of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1988-2010 and now teaches at the International College of Music Hamburg.

Peter Schmidt
was born in Hamburg and played guitar and electric bass while at school. He was inspired by Stanley Clarke to take up the double bass, and his first teacher, Walter Koloniak, brought him to classical music. After studies with Prof. Willi Beyer in Lübeck, he spent a season at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern before becoming a member of the North German Radio Symphony.

He is also a professor at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre. A desire to play chamber music led Peter to found the fabergé - quintett.

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