“Thought-provoking programming, magnificent playing. […] The players’ coordination is breathtaking both in terms of ensemble and intonation, and their observation of dynamics and articulation guarantees that the work’s emotional impact is fully realised.”
David Threasher: “The Strad Recommends: Signum Quartet Lebensmuth” in The Strad, 26 June 2023
“Intoxicating and deeply moving. Sublime ensemble playing.”
Eckhard Weber: “Review: Lebensmuth” in concerti, 7 June 2023
“an affecting new way of playing and listening to Schubert […] Prepare for a deeply moving experience”
Laurence Vittes: “Review: Signum Quartett Suggests New Ways of Playing Schubert on ‘Ins stille Land’” in Strings Magazine, 16 March 2021
“dissonant with dark, tonal-atonal underpinnings, and replete with pauses and explosions that ricochet outwards in molten trails before re-gathering. All are delivered with exemplary drive and luminosity: the Signum Quartett respond vividly to the changing textures of Tüür’s imagined Lost Prayers.”
Steph Power: “Erkki-Sven Tüür: Lost Prayers” in Classical Music, 21 January 2021
“The Signum’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ is up there with the best from a crowded field”
Carlos Maria Solare: “Signum Quartet: Ins stille Land” in The Strad, 2 January 2021
“passionate, often brilliant, but also clear and lean […] a D810 finale so swift that it feels genuinely dangerous […] an album that repays careful and repeated listening”
Richard Bratby: “SCHUBERT Ins stille Land” in Gramophone, 01/2021
“That this develops into a dialogue between Schubert’s dual composer souls of lied and chamber music to which one does not merely listen, but by which one is spellbound and enthralled, is thanks to the highly concentrated, creative, versatile and emotional playing of the four musicians.”
Guido Fischer: “SCHUBERT Ins stille Land” in Rondo Magazin, 28.11.2020
Diapason
“The interpretation presented by the Signum Quartet has nothing massive about it. Starting from its very first beat, one can hear the quartet‘s preference for a light aesthetic, which reminds us of their last Schubert recording which we enjoyed so much.”
Jean-Michel Molkhou: “Beethoven op 130 & 133” in Diapason, 04/20
The Times
Schubert “Death and the Maiden”
“a performance as boldly imagined as a symphony, with startling rhythmic daring in the scherzo and timbres that ranged from ashen to silver in the variations. Fury, tenderness, terror, sardonic humour and resignation were here in a journey that left the listener bruised and breathless.
Anna Picard: “Review: Mozart’s Requiem at Kings Place, N1” in The Times, 5. December 2018
Diapason
“The intimacy of the famous Andante [of D 804], the exceedingly gentle palpitations in the Menuetto as well as the authentic freshness of the Finale are emblematic of one of the most sensitive interpretations ever recorded.”
Jean-Michel Molkhou: “SCHUBERT Aus der Ferne” in Diapason, 09/18
FONO FORUM
“an unrelentingly gripping voyage through Schubert’s mysterious world”
Carlos Maria Solare: “Aus der Ferne. Schubert.” in FONO FORUM, 08/18
“their readings’ greatest beauty is the intimate emotional trinity they intertwine of dignity, fragility and pain.”
Charlotte Gardner: “Aus der Ferne – Schubert quartets and lieder arrangements” in The Strad, June 2018
“The quartet play transparently and eloquently, without a hint of sentimentality, in performances that deal unflinchingly with the music’s latent violence. The slow movement of the A minor Quartet, in particular, veers terrifyingly into the darkness […] Definitely not Schubert as easy-listening, then, but a fascinating, thought-provoking disc.”
Richard Bratby: “SCHUBERT Aus der Ferne” in Gramophone, 06/2018
“The Signum Quartet’s performance was a single multifaceted paragraph of tremendous cumulative power”
Tim Homfray: “Postcard from: the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam” in The Strad, 8. May 2018
“That Widmann is not only one of the most well-versed polystylists but also a great friend of the musical grotesque is demonstrated by his “Jagdquartett”, played here by the Signum Quartet gone wild, and setting a new record for speed and screams..”
Dirk Wieschollek: „Immanenz und Transzendenz“ in nmz, 04/2018
“In the 3rd String Quartet by Widmann, the four string players of the Signum Quartet race over hill and dale. In this ‘Jagdquartett’ (Mozart sends his regards!) they master the most varied and extreme technical situations with unstoppable drive and unmistakable exuberance.”
Guido Fischer: „Jörg Widmann Viola-Konzert, 24 Duos (Auswahl), Jagdquartett“ in Rondo Magazin, 10. March 2018 (own translation)
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Chamber music at its finest.”
Guido Holze: “Es klappert die Mühle” in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 29. November 2017
violinist.com
“Balm to the soul was provided by the Signum Quartet’s ravishing, organic Beethoven opus 132. Playing as if they shared one and the same breath, the group showed how four can actually become one while casting a spell.”
Heather Kurzbauer: “String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam (SQBA) opens with charisma and color” in violinist.com, 4. February 2018
elbowmusic.org
“So on one night we had the Signum Quartet finding the otherworldly, slow-motion beauty of Beethoven’s op.132 Heiliger Dankgesang, and the next afternoon, coming back to this sound world in a performance of Jörg Widmann’s complete string quartets. […] As well as the sheer technical dexterity and accuracy required, the members of the Signum Quartet proved to be superb actors.”
Ariane Todes: “Can string quartets save the world?” in elbowmusic.org, 9. Februar 2018
The Telegraph
“brilliantly performed”, “with perfect precision” 5*
Ivan Hewett: “November’s best classical concerts” in The Telegraph, 13. November 2016
The Guardian
“The [12th String Quartet by Kevin Volans] must be frighteningly difficult to coordinate and play, but the Signum performance seemed astonishingly assured.”
Andrew Clements: “Signum Quartet/BCMG review – a double bill of Kevin Volans world premieres” in The Guardian, 13 November 2016
The Strad
“The Signum’s playing is both clean in its clarity of ensemble and interpretatively full of freshness and life, and its ebullience of spirit in the exhilarating finale is infectious.”
Matthew Rye: “alla czeca” in The Strad, 2. January 2016
Süddeutsche Zeitung
“The gesture-rich Five Pieces by Erwin Schulhoff, one of the most interesting Innovators of the Twenties and Thirties who fell victim to the Nazis in 1942, come across brilliantly.”
Harald Eggebrecht: “Klassikkolumne”. In Süddeutsche Zeitung, 22. September 2015. Own translation.
concerti
“Electrifying and profound […] The Signum Quartet tests the extremes, venturesome and headstrong. […] The string quartet as existential utterance – nothing banal here.”
Eckhard Weber: “Existenzielle Aussprache” in concerti, October 2015. Own translation
Aachener Zeitung
The Signums make music in the best late romantic tradition, without even a suggestion of seeming old-fashioned. On the contrary: Dvořák’s music bursts with liveliness. One hasn’t heard something like this in a long time.”
ark: “Album Check 1: Alla Czeca”. In Aachener Zeitung, 9. October 2015. Own translation.
Spiegel Online
“An exhilarating cocktail.”
“a refined fire, glowing, perfectly formed.”
“How wonderful it is when interpreters bring these ideas to life with such verve and intuition. […] An enthusiasm for playing which will perk up even hardened chamber music-grouches.”
deutschlandfunk.de
“Music to touch, music which does not merely ring in the ears but which is positively palpable. This is the new CD by the Signum Quartet. At times it feels like gossamer parchment paper, at times like coarse, dried wood, at times like brushed, cold steel.”
Maja Ellmenreich: “Die neue Platte: Musik zum Anfassen”. In deutschlandfunk.de, 3. Mai 2015. Own translation.
pizzicato.lu
“Introspection and refined emotional nuances also define this reading of the Ravel quartet, in which we, as in the preceding works, marvel at the ensemble’s balance of sound, which transforms the music into a kind of sensual dream and portrays the delicacy of Ravel’s music completely.”
Remy Franck: “Faszinierende Nuancierungskunst”. In pizzicato.lu, 4. Mai 2015. Own translation.
Ostthüringer Zeitung
“[…] the Signum Quartet, who under the allusion-rich title “soundescapes” has just released an extraordinary recording of sensual works which play with the flow of sound and colour. These are musical points of escape in many respects, as this recording is potentially addictive.”
tagblatt.ch
“The new CD of the Signum Quartet from Germany belongs in the premium class. This recording of Debussy’s String Quartet is characterized from the very first bar by an elastic and flowing style and an enormously rich tonal palette. The four players approach this impressionistic gem with a joyful sense of discovery – fresh and full of vigour.”
classicalsource.com
Signum Quartet at Wigmore Hall
“The Signum members gave a full-throttled performance [of Beethoven’s Große Fuge op. 133], rising to its many challenges – not the least of which being stamina – with great aplomb. Potentially an impenetrable mess of contrapuntal complexity, here the fugal lines were brought out with dextrous virtuosity.”
seenandheard-international.com
Uplifting Lunchtime Beethoven from the Signum String Quartet
Süddeutsche Zeitung
“Wild hunt”
Jörg Widmann and friends at the Prinzregententheater
Süddeutsche Zeitung
No. 3
Badische Zeitung
An explosion of emphasis
Nikolaus Cybinski: “Eine Explosion der Emphase” In: Badische Zeitung, 17 February 2014, own translation
“Yet this CD is worth it solely for the interpretation of Schnittke’s Third Quartet: In a breathlessly gripping account, the Signum Quartet retraces the composer’s grappling search for a valid standpoint on the stockpile of history, through which he has thoroughly sifted.”
Doris Kösterke: “No. 3” In: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 01/ 2014, own translation
The Independent
BBC Proms 2013: “Signum and Hadland excel in Brahms“
“Owing more to the influence of Bartok than to that of her tutor Ralph Vaughan Williams, its vibrant eloquence [Elisabeth Maconchy’s String Quartet No.3] was beautifully rendered by the Signum Quartet, who were then joined by Christian Ihle Hadland for a stunning account of Brahms’s Piano Quintet in F minor.”
Gramophone
“…the Signum Quartet respond [to Berg op. 3] with an almost fulsome warmth of tone – perhaps assuming some hidden romantic programme, a Bergian Verklärte Nacht?“
Fonoforum
“It is no longer enough to play “merely” outstandingly to assert oneself against the tough competition. An individual profile is demanded. The German Signum Quartet demonstrates this with their bold choice of programmes, as is the case with their most recent CD.”
Ensemble
Anna Renczikowski: “3 mal 3” . In: Ensemble, August/ September 2013. Own translation
Pizzicato Magazin
br.de
“That all of this has an inner rightness, that the intrinsic, the essentially artistic prerequisites are not only met but are grounds for euphoria, all this can be heard on the wonderfully composed programme of their recent CD of quartet movements (…) What a roller coaster ride of ardent emotions (…); Colours, intensities!”
Helmut Rohm: Quartettsätze. In: br.de. 9. January 2012. Own translation
ndr.de
“The Signum Quartet enlivens the music’s emotional characters with a considerable palette of expression (…) A powerful recording with an entirely individual stamp.”
Marcus Stäbler: Quartettsätze des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts. In: ndr.de. 4. January 2012, own translation
kulturradio.de
“On the one hand sophisticated and technically mature, on the other hand one can sense an inquisitiveness and astonishment – one can almost hear the musicians agape again and again at the unexpected sounds they themselves are producing. Maturity and experience are paired here with a delight in risk taking.” .”
Volker Michael:”Quartet Movements”. In: kulturradio.de 6. January 2012. Own translation.
Pizzicato Magazin
Ludwig Thuille – String Quartets
“This CD [of Ludwig Thuille’s string quartets] confirms the outstanding impression made by the Signum Quartet, which must already be counted among the best ensembles of its generation and need not hide behind renowned star quartets such as the Hagens or Emersons.”
Alain Steffen: “Mit Verantwortung und Freude”. In: Pizzicato Magazine, 12/2010. Own translation.
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