SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG
reinhard palmer
ApriL 2015
"The Quatuor Voce are without a doubt one of the world's finest string quartets. Their success is even more remarkable, since they have not made their mark through the "big bang" of winning prizes in celebrated competitions, but rather through persistently hard and honest work that has culminated in performances of quality in concerts and other engagements. They have managed in this unobtrusive way to acquire an excellent reputation, which is why Bavarian Radio decided to record this ‘Bosco’ concert live. And the sound technician in his mobile recording studio was assailed by frenetic applause from the euphoric audience."
AMBERGER ZEITUNG
Marielouise Scharf
April 2015
"The Quatuor Voce convince with Ravel's only string quartet, both musically and technically a highly demanding work. Suppleness and joy abound with their risk-taking curiosity in their sound colours and technical brilliance: all this distinguishes the Quatuor Voce. Their playing is striking and exciting, refined and virtuosic. With this interpretation, the public succumbed to the rich colours of Ravel. A superb evening !"
RESMUSICA
Michèle Tosi
MARch 2015
"The Voce chose Mozart and his “Hoffmeister” quartet written in 1786 to begin the concert (…). The mature interpretation which the Quatuor Voce invokes only the finest praise: well felt tempo, elegance of articulation and balance of sound in a first movement magnificently handled. After the short Minuet, unusually serious for Mozart, the Voce allowed space for meditation in the Adagio, which was full of beautifully intense dramaturgy. In the Finale they held onto an almost feverish agitation throughout, as much virtuosic as controlled.
Abandoning the habitual dialoguing between instrument so well-known to the classical genre, Bruno Mantovani – who came on stage to present his work – conceived his quartet as a giant instrument with 16 strings, engendering material which is ever transforming and developing. This second quartet written in 2013 was premiered at the String Quaret Biennale at the Cité de la Musique in Paris by the Voce, and their commitment to the performance this evening was staggering! It’s here that we feel the energy of motion, ceaselessly reborn within the nervous and incisive writing : such as small rocket-like figures which mark the course of the swift bows of the Voce. We were captivated by the intensity and the power developed within the strings who kept up a sort of organised chaos where the material is pulverised then restructured in dizzying back and forth movements. Strategically, a kind of coda, more peaceful and almost detached from the body of the work, slightly restores the energy before the last spectacular onslaught, brought about by these four solidary string players : slick and very effective !"
“The Quatuor Voce played this music (Bruno Mantovani’s Second String Quartet) with the same generosity as in their Mozart and Beethoven. The interpretation of the master of Bonn (…) was poetic, dense, vigorous, even overwhelming in the more lively moments, all exhalting warm sonorities and all transcended by an obvious pleasure of playing together.”
CLASSIQUE D'AUJOURD'HUI
Blog - Bruno Serrou
January 2014
“The young French quartet, extremely concentrated and with much vigour, expressed their music with passion (…) The discipline is stupefying, the ensemble is impeccable, the spectrum of sound so wide that we would have thought we were before a whole orchestra – including the woodwind and the brass. (…) The result is a marvellous flexibility, convincing even in the smallest of details in the music. We should see the brilliant Quatuor Voce more often.”
DER TAGESSPIEGEL
Christian Schmidt
september 2013
“Respiration, ease, cohesion – here was a Mozart (K. 465) more than impeccable, never excessive, but not played cautiously on the tip of their bows, daring to be frank and even cutting in the attacks, be it in the development of the initial Allegro, in the almost rustic merriment of the Minuet or in the spry Trio. (…)
In Schubert’s 15th quartet (1826), (…) the musicians managed to draw an arch, without dropping the tension, from the first to the last bar. The drive was just as irreproachable in the Andante un poco moto, beyond the violent contrasts. The Scherzo, more Beethovenian than Mendelssohnian under their bows, was interrupted by a trio perfectly Schubertian. Finally, the Allegro assai, advancing inevitably, sounded like an echo – far off but just as distressing – as the Earl King.