The Orava Quartet are thrilled to be recording their much-anticipated second album in April this year. Postponed from 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, and including works loved by their audiences for many years, the time feels right for the Oravas to bring these works into the studio.
“The group’s reputation for intensity is thoroughly deserved” – Sydney Morning Herald
The Oravas are the first Australian ensemble to be signed to Deutsche Grammophon Australia and release their debut album through the label in 2018. The recording received widespread critical and public acclaim (read more here), including 5 stars in Limelight and a prediction in The Australian that, “Within the next decade, the Orava Quartet will surely take its place as one of the most accomplished string quartets on the planet, continuing in the great tradition of the genre, as well as becoming one of Australia’s proudest cultural exports.”
Building on their renown for technical mastery, intensity, and an extraordinary unified concept of sound, this next album will include works by Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, Polish composer Wojciech Kilar, and Dmitri Shostakovich. This is music the Oravas have long held dear, for which they are well-known, having performed some since their earliest days as a quartet. It will also include two stunning works by one of Australia’s leading neo-classical composers, signed with Mercury KX, Luke Howard.
Recording an album is intensive work and requires significant financial resources, to cover costs such as venue hire, production, photography, and on this occasion, interstate travel to work with one of Australia’s foremost tonmeisters. Any level of support would be deeply appreciated, through the Australian Cultural Fund, with tax deductibility and the full amount going directly to the artist.
This second album will help the Oravas share their music wide and far, on their journey to becoming “one of Australia’s proudest cultural exports” [The Australian].
Please consider supporting the Orava Quartet here: www.australianculturalfund.org.au