Credits:

Vienna String Quartet

Description:

Wagner wrote a string quartet as a young man, but the score has been scattered and it is impossible to actually hear the sound. Mahler is also recorded as having written a string quartet, but again, the score has not survived and it too is impossible to perform." The album "Messenger of Love" is the fulfillment of this desire to hear the string quartets of Wagner and Mahler. Contemporary German composer Andreas Herrlicht has selected pieces from each of these works that carry a message of love and arranged them into a stunning string quartet. Wagner's Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, composed with Mathilde Wesendonck in mind, and the string quartet version of the Wesendonck Lieder; Mahler's early piano quartet in the first movement, the Adagietto from No. 5 written for Alma in the second movement, No. 10 in the third movement, and the quartet version of the Wesendonck Lieder in the third movement. The final movement is the "String Quartet No. 1.0," a free combination of the remaining fragments of the quartet. Both have been transformed into fascinating works. Performed by the Voyager Quartet, which previously released "Winterreise" (SM335), also arranged by Andreas Herrlicht. The ensemble was formed in 2014 by players who were once members of the famous Quartet or members of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Naxos Japan