VOCES STRING QUARTET

Photograph of The Voces String Quartet by Dinu Lazar

Bujor Prelipcean, Anton Diaconu (Violins),
Constantin Stanciu (Viola), Dan Prelipcean ('cello)

The Voces String Quartet, founded in 1973 and now a "State Ensemble of the Romanian National Radio System", has its roots in the George Enescu Academy in Iasi, Romania, and became distinguished by a string of international awards:

Colmar (France) 1974 - First Prize;
Bordeaux (France) 1976 - Silver Medal;
Hannover (Germany) 1979 - Second Prize at the Karl Klinger competition.

The Voces String Quartet were prominent attendees at the quartet masterclasses at the Music Academy in Köln (Cologne) between 1981 and 1983, when they were singled out for special attention by their mentors - the great Amadeus String Quartet.

The ensemble has a wide-ranging repertoire, and have given a number of world premières. They offer complete cycles of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. Their discography includes (among numerous other issues) the first-ever series of the complete chamber music of Georges Enescu (Electrecord), Haydn's "Seven Last Words", Op.51 (Electrecord EDC222),plus the String Quartet in G (1948), String Trio in four movements (1937) and the Quartet Movement (1947) by Rudolf Hartung (Electrecord EDC181). The Voces Quartet's recording of the three string quartets of Arriaga (EMI Electrola MDG L 3236) won the "CD des Monats" award and received the following notices:

"Ein ungekünstelter Sinn für rhythmische Verve und melodischen Phrasenaufbau zeichnet die Musiker ebenso aus wie dertreffsichere Instinkt für Zwischentöne und Nebenstimmen". (FonoForum)

"The playing by the Voces Quartet, whose members are from northern Romania, is outstanding, and the recording is exceptionally generous in duration, since most if not at all (I have not seen a score) of the repeats are observed. This is a fascinating issue". (The Gramophone)

The Voces String Quartet are in popular demand in many countries and have appeared at such major festivals as Bayreuth, Bratislava, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Salonica, Salzburg, Siena and Turin. They also occupy a prominent and regular place in the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. 1998 saw the ensemble make their United Kingdom début at the Wigmore Hall in London,where they were joined on the platform by Martin Lovett (formerly 'cellist of the Amadeus String Quartet) for performances of the Brahms F Minor (arr. for strings only by Sebastian Brown, after Brahms' original sketches) and the Schubert C Major quintets before an appreciative capacity audience.

"Led by the acutely thoughtful and calmly virtuosic Bujor Prelipcean, the Voces Quartet plays with the telepathy and bravura of long and successful partnership....a calm assertion of musical authority....the parts interlocked like a gleaming clock mechanism". (HAMPSTEAD & HIGHGATE EXPRESS, London).

"L'interprétation du Voces témoigne une grande maturité, une maîtrise émouvente..."
("LE DAUPHINÉ LIBÉRÉ" - Avignon).

"Quanto ao quarteto Voces....ne que pudemos apreciar a qualidade individual dos instrumentistas o excelente e o conjunto de primeira ordem". (DIARIA DE NOTICIAS - Lisbon)

"All'Auditorium il Quartetto Voces, straordinario gruppo romeno - Uno Sciostakovic (Shostakovitch) da antologia....". (LA STAMPA - Turin).

"The Voces Quartet has the talent, the quality and the right professional attitude".
(Professor Uzi Wiesel, JUILLIARD SCHOOL OF MUSIC, New York).

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