Reviews of the Orava Quartet debut album and tour performances
“beauty of tone, uniformity of style, phrasing, dynamics and vibrato, and a broad-sweep approach to musical architecture…
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.”
– Vincent Plush, The Australian (album review, 4.5 stars, March 2018)
“The debut album by Australia’s Orava Quartet for the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label is a beauty. … Wonderfully nuanced, Orava Quartet captures the starkness, anguish and even despair, achieving both discipline and a rare intimacy. The group’s reputation for intensity is thoroughly deserved”
– Barney Zwartz, Sydney Morning Herald (album review here, 4 stars)
“The four of them play like a group of seasoned professionals but with a youthful eye to taking risks…
Witness the hair-raising short second movement of the Shostakovich.. [a] mighty debut on the renowned Yellow Label.”
– Steve Moffatt, The Daily Telegraph (album review here)
“The performance excelled because of its animated and beautifully shaped phrasing, remarkable precision and impressive balances between leading and subordinate lines… Orava demonstrated superb interpretative insight. It was a gut-wrenching delivery that has taken up residence in this reviewer’s memory… five stars.”
– Gillian Wills, ArtsHub (live review, 24 Feb 2018: “Exciting unity and stunning rapport”)
“Did we need yet another string quartet album in the world? I didn’t think so, until I listened to the latest release from Deutsche Grammophon of an Australian group, the Orava Quartet… Their sounds blend effortlessly, their ensemble playing is tight … sometimes it’s difficult to pick out exactly which instrument is playing. Listening to this album shows you the truth of chamber music”
– Kate Rockstrom, Readings Magazine (album review here)
“The Orava Quartet displayed their complete mastery of a diverse classical repertoire and covered a huge emotional range… an evocative and moving performance containing light and shade, humour, suspense and dread… [Mendelssohn’s String Quartet no 2 in A minor, opus 13] was masterfully played – its complex cross-rhythms – romantic and sparkling, perfectly executed.”
– Lucy Swinnon, Dominion Post (New Zealand Festival live review, 2 March 2018: “Australian Orava Quartet delivers evocative, accomplished performance”)
And more….
- Read a Sydney Morning Herald feature by Steve Meacham about the Orava Quartet, also printed in The Age (March 2018: “Classical fab four bring socks appeal to the stage”)
- Selected for Gramophone Magazine’s The Listening Room (editor’s picks) for 15.02.2018
- Selected for ‘Album of the Week’ on ABC Classic FM, Fine Music FM, and the MBS network
- Radio New Zealand live interview, 1 March 2018: listen here