Mustonen: String Quartet No. 1 / Piano Quintet

The quartet's debut CD was praised as 'breathtaking' in The Strad, while their second release won Pizzicato magazine's 'Supersonic Award'. Their CD of works by Grieg, Sibelius, and Olav Anton Thommessen was praised by Tully Potter in Music Web International as 'what Grieg lovers have been waiting for'.

The Engegard Quartet has a busy concert schedule throughout Scandinavia and further afield. They have performed in some of Europe's finest venues including the Mozarteum in Salzburg and Prague's Rudolfinum, as well as performing in South America with concerts in Medellin, Bogota and Sao Paolo. Festival performances include the Delft Chamber Music Festival, SoNoRo Festival in Bucharest, and Heidelberg's Streichquartettfest.

Deeply committed to today's composers and to keeping the string quartet repertoire alive and developing, the Engegard Quartet has commissioned several works throughout their career. They have focused first and foremost on Norwegian composers including Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, Olav Anton Thommessen, Therese Birkelund Ulvo and Cecilie Ore, but also on the Finnish pianist and composer Olli Mustonen. The Engegard Quartet's acclaimed collaborations with the jazz violinist Ola Kvernberg and hardanger fiddler Nils Okland have lead to commissions including the Telemark Quintet from Nils Anders Mortensen, and Hypnagogia and Flukt from Ola Kvernberg. Several of these commissions have been recorded by the Engegard Quartet.

On the classical front, the Engegard Quartet has had the honour to work with (among others) Sir Andras Schiff, Leif Ove Andsnes, Christian Ihle Hadland, Paul Lewis, Kim Kashkashian and Emma Johnson MBE.

Critical Acclaim:

"These performances could not be bettered given Mustonen's prowess and the collective excellence of the Engeg?rd Quartet. The sound has exemplary clarity if lacking in warmth, and there are succinctly informative notes." - Gramophone

"I don't hesitate to recommend this disc; the playing of all participants is superb, and the recording is of the highest quality too. Mustonen is a most intriguing composer, in that he appears quite happy to be seen within the existing traditions of chamber music, yet is developing his own personal and distinctive style of writing." - MusicWeb International