Das Zürcher Oboenquartett: SCHUMANN - MOZART - DVORAK

The Rediscovery of the Tenor Oboe!

With the instruments of the oboe family, the musicians of the Zurich Oboe Quartet create a homogeneous sound body, akin to a string quartet, and thus realize for the first time the original instrumentation with modern oboe instruments. This represents a rediscovery in the field of chamber music, closely linked to the renaissance of the tenor oboe.

The Zurich Oboe Quartet has taken up this fascinating instrument again and adapted it to modern demands in collaboration with dedicated instrument makers. The warm, sonorous sound of the tenor oboe is comparable to that of the viola in the string quartet, embodying its vocal range. The adaptation of the instrumentation thus represents a reconnection to the original version.

All three works recorded for this CD were adapted by their composers themselves:
Schumann created a piano version of two quartets from op. 41 in 1856. Mozart followed his Wind Octet KV 388 with the version KV 406 for string quintet, and with Dvorák, it was initially piano songs that he later transformed into a sequence of quartet movements. Not least for this reason, it seemed particularly appealing to present the three works to the audience in a new sonic guise on the present recording.

The Zurich Oboe Quartet was formed in 1999. After its successful debut with various concerts in Switzerland during the 2000 season, international appearances followed in the subsequent year, especially in the Czech Republic, the USA, and Germany.