Berlin FREIZeit Kuss Quartet, Sarah Maria Sun, Bas Böttcher, Johannes Julius Fischer

• Enno Poppe (b. 1969):
• 1 Poppe: Freizeit 07:03
• Aribert Reimann (b. 1936):
• 2 Reimann: Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet: Bagatelle 01:51
• Theodore Kirchner (1823 - 1903):
• 3 Kirchner, Reimann: Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: In dem Walde sprießt und grünt es, Op. 1 No. 4 02:02
• Aribert Reimann:
• 4 Reimann: Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet: Bagatelle II 01:17
• Theodore Kirchner:
• 5 Kirchner, Reimann: Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: Die blauen Frühlingsaugen, Op. 1 No. 6 01:27
• Aribert Reimann:
• 6 Reimann: Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet: Bagatelle III 02:00
• Theodore Kirchner:
• 7 Kirchner, Reimann: Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam, Op. 81 No. 4 01:53
• Aribert Reimann:
• 8 Reimann: Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet: Bagatelle IV 01:35
• Theodore Kirchner:
• 9 Kirchner, Reimann: Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: Leise zieht durch mein Gemüt, Op. 1 No. 2 01:21
• Aribert Reimann:
• 10 Reimann: Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet: Bagatelle V 01:51
• Theodore Kirchner:
• 11 Kirchner, Reimann: Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht, Op. 1 No. 10 01:27
• Aribert Reimann:
• 12 Reimann: Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet: Bagatelle VI 01:54
• Theodore Kirchner:
• 13 Kirchner, Reimann: Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: Unterm weißen Baume sitzend, Op. 81 No. 6 01:31
• Aribert Reimann:
• 14 Reimann: Seven Bagatelles for String Quartet: Bagatelle VII 01:32
• Manfred Trojahn (b. 1949):
• 15 Trojahn: String Quartet No. 5: I . Moderato 10:11
• 16 Trojahn: String Quartet No. 5: II. Molto adagio 08:23
• 17 Trojahn: String Quartet No. 5: III. Calmo 07:04
• 18 Cage: The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs 02:40
• Johannes Julius Fischer (b. 1981):
• 19 Fischer: Duft (Fragrance) 13:12
• Total Runtime 01:10:14

Info for Berlin FREIZeit

The Kuss Quartet’s "KussPluss" at the Klassiklounge of the Berlin Classical Radio station RBB and in the trendy Watergate riverside nightclub in Berlin is the inspiration for their latest album. Guests Sarah Maria Sun, the soprano in the Reimann Lieder, percussionist Johannes Julius Fischer and slam poet Bas Böttcher mark this innovative album as something far removed from the standard string quartet recording.

Prepare to be shocked, excited and delighted as you embark on a journey of musical discovery with one of the most creative and innovative quartets of our time.

Kuss Quartet

The Kuss Quartet
has been setting new standards for many years with its ambitious concept- based programming. Its mission is to offer unique experiences to traditional audiences and new listeners alike.

Leader Jana Kuss and second violinist Oliver Wille have been playing side by side for over 30 years. With great curiosity, they and their long-standing colleagues, William Coleman and Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, seek confirmation of the eternal “muss es sein?” of string quartet playing.

Thanks to a grant from the state of Lower Saxony and Musik 21, the quartet has been able to commission several new works in the last ten years, expanding the string quartet repertoire with compositions by Enno Poppe, Aribert Reimann, Manfred Trojahn, Bruno Mantovani, Iris ter Schiphorst Johannes Fischer and Mark Andre. This has attracted cooperations with the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Paris Biennale, the Wigmore Hall in London and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. In the 23/24 season, Francisco Coll’s “Codices” will be premiered in Basel and receive further performances in Amsterdam, Berlin and Hanover.

The Kuss Quartett enjoys regular collaborations with musical partners including Miklós Perényi, Dénes Várjon, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Sarah Maria-Sun, Maurice Steger and Johannes Fischer.

The most recent album, “KRISE” (Crisis), was released in January 2023 and explores the subject of its title from different perspectives in both well-known quartet repertoire and specially commissioned works. The “KRISE” concert programme can be heard extensively in performance throughout the 23/24 season.

The cross-genre Beethoven programme “Force and Freedom” was developed together with director Nicola Hümpel and her music and dance theatre, “Nico and The Navigators”. Delayed by the pandemic, the world premiere took place in November 2021 at the Konzerthaus Dortmund and was subsequently performed at the Schwetzinger Festspiele and Radialsystem Berlin in 2022. The production was filmed by ARTE TV.

A further highly innovative project was “KUSS@KOKON”. During the Corona pandemic, an artist collective consisting of dancers Yui Kawaguchi and Ruben Reniers, percussionist Johannes Fischer and slam poet Bas Böttcher developed new modular concerts with the Kuss Quartet, assisted by a “Reload” grant from the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Free from inhibitions, the modules break the boundaries of these artistic fields and expand them into new forms.

At the beginning of its career, the quartet was awarded first prizes by the German Music Council and at the Borciani Competition. It also received a Borletti-Buitoni Award and was a “Rising Star” of the European Concert Hall Organisation. Today, the Kuss Quartet inspires the next generation in frequent master classes. William Coleman and Oliver Wille hold professorships in Salzburg and Hanover/Birmingham respectively, while Mikayel Hakhnazaryan teaches chamber music at the Hochschule in Karlsruhe and Jana Kuss at the Accademia Perosi in Biella (Italy).

Booklet for Berlin FREIZeit