Artemis Quartet / Elisabeth Leonskaja SHOSTAKOVICH

Formed in 1989, the Artemis Quartett fist came to widespread international recognition after they won the ARD International Music Competition almost eighteen years ago. Since then, the quartet has gone on to play at all of the major concert venues around the globe. Their many recordings include string quartets by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schubert.

Born in Latvia, Vineta Sareika is one of the quartet's two remarkable violin players. She was a founding member of the well-respected Trio Dali and was appointed as the principal concertmaster of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in 2011. The other violinist in the quartet is Gregor Sigl who studied at the Albert Greiner Music School in Augsburg before going on to the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Sigl is now a professor at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin.

The team of four prestigious musicians is completed by Friedemann Weigle, on viola, and cellist Eckart Runge. Weigle joined the quartet in 2007 and holds the post of guest professor at the Chapelle Reine Elisabeth, based in Brussels. Whilst he was still a student, Weigle was made the principal viola player with none other than the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Runge is another highly skilled musician, whose cello playing has led him to win several international competitions.

The origins of this album – the Artemis Quartet’s first recordings of Shostakovich – lie in the ensemble’s long-established relationship with the great pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja. For years, the quartet had been wanting to record the Russian composer’s Piano Quintet with her. It is coupled with Quartets No 5 and No 7, multi-faceted works which are expressive of the composer’s private persona.