Cuarteto Casals

The last few years have seen new string quartets really come to the fore. Interestingly, the long standing hegemony of German quartets has gradually been overtaken by up and coming string quartets from other countries. One of them is the Spanish Cuarteto Casals. Founded in 1997 at the Conservatory in Madrid, having won a whole string of prestigious competitions they were catapulted onto the international scene. In their debut recital at deSingel, Cuarteto Casals have chosen to perform famous works by Haydn and Bartók. A Ravel's quartet, which he composed towards the end of his studies, is virtually their signature tune. He modelled it on a quartet by Debussy and dedicated it to his idol Fauré. At the premiere in 1904, Fauré was rather critical of the work, while Debussy was completely enraptured.