Quadriga Consort (AT)
Ever since the Austrian ensemble Quadriga Consort was founded by harpsichordist arranger and composer Nikolaus Newerkla, it has made a name for itself playing early music which defies being pigeonholed as either ‘early music’, ‘classical’ or ‘pop’. With its first programme Ground (CD 2003, Label Harp, Berlin) the Quadriga Consort already surprised audiences with uncompromising interpretations and unsuspected freshness beyond any categorization.
Quadriga, one of Austria’s most successful ensembles have released altogether nine CDs within 12 years, among which there were bestsellers (esp. On a Cold Winter’s Day, SONY 2012, Crime and Mystery, SONY 2014, and Winter’s Delights, SONY, 2015) or prize-winning albums (such as Ships Ahoy!, ALPHA 2011). Quadriga has had numerous appearances at renowned festivals in Austria, throughout Europe and the US.
Cast:
Ulrike Tropper (voice), Angelika Huemer (recorder, treble viol), Karin Silldorff (recorder), Dominika Teufel (tenor viol), Philipp Comploi (Basse de violon), Laurenz Schiffermüller (percussion), Nikolaus Newerkla (harpsichord, vibrandoneon, direction)
Nikolaus Newerkla
The founder and director of Quadriga Consort was born in Horn, Lower Austria. From his earliest years he loved improvising at the piano in different styles between pop, jazz and classical music. He began his musical career as a pianist but found an additional vocation in early keyboards. He studied piano with Eike Straub and basso continuo and improvisation with Kurt Neuhauser at the University of Music in Graz from 1999 to 2001. Nikolaus also received the scholarship for composition from the KIWANIS Club of Austria. As both a pianist and harpsichordist, he performs with various ensembles and as a soloist. He teaches classical chamber music at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, but is also extensively engaged in composing and arranging classical and pop music. With the worldwide successful ensemble Quadriga Consort Nikolaus has recorded many CDs, some of them international bestsellers.
Ulrike Tropper was born into a musical family from Styrian Bad Gleichenberg, Austria. In the year of her birth her father founded the ‘Big Band Bad Gleichenberg’. Being part of the successful big band as a singer and trumpet player since her very early childhood, Ulrike gained valuable experiences for her life as a professional singer and musician. Even during her years in school she made a name for herself as a jazz singer. She attended the University of Music in Graz studying jazz singing with Ines Reiger, classical singing with Elisabeth Batrice and trumpet with Helmut Arnfelser. Today, besides her work as an artist, Ulrike teaches jazz singing at the University in Graz.
Ulrike has had many highlights in her career working together with stars of the jazz scene like Don Menza, Bob Mintzer, Luis Bonilla, Peter Herbolzheimer, John Riley, Kevin Mahogany or Michael Philipp Mossmann, being part of many successful formations and bands, performing concerts and doing CD productions and TV and radio broadcasts in Austria but also abroad. Since 2016 Ulrike is the voice of the early music band Quadriga Consort.
Angelika Huemer was born in Linz, Upper Austria. Playing recorder and violin at the local music school at Bad Leonfelden laid the foundations for her career as a musician. She studied the recorder with Robert Unger and Robert Finster at the University of Music in Graz, as well as with Rahel Stoellger at the University of Music in Vienna and obtained her honours degree and a distinction from the University in Graz in 2003. Furthermore she attended master classes and seminars with Han Tol, Manfredo Zimmermann, William Dongois, Jean Tubery and the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet. In addition to this, Angelika studied the bass violin with Lorenz Duftschmid.
Dominika Teufel was born in Linz, Upper Austria, and grew up in a musical family. She studied music and dance education and the viola da gamba at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna and passed with distinction in 1998. She also studied the baroque oboe with Carin van Heerden at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and has attended master classes with Johanna Valencia, Susanne Flügel, Katharina Meints, Jose Vasquez and Alfredo Bernadini. She has performed on both instruments in Austria and abroad with ensembles such as the Wiener Akademie, L' Orfeo Baroque Orchestra and Armonico Tributo Austria.
Laurenz Schiffermüller was born in 1980 in Linz, Upper Austria, into a musical family. He has been playing percussion instruments since 1995 and showed special interest in ethnic and historical percussion, as well as drum making.
He specialised in frame drums from various cultures, such as the Irish Bodhran, and has studied with masters from around the world.
Always interested in learning, he continues to take up new techniques while travelling to places like Cameroon, Southern Italy or Morocco.
Philipp Comploi began with cello lesson at the age of seven. Beside attending various master classes, he studied under Rudolf Leopold at the Graz University of Music and completed his chamber music Master’s degree with Trio Alba under Chia Chou with highest honours.
He performs with the Trio Alba throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia and is a sought-after section leader and soloist in international orchestras and ensembles specializing in performance with historical original-sound instruments, including the Wiener Akademie, La Folia Barockorchester, Bach Consort Wien and Delirio ensemble.
Karin Silldorff was born in Graz, Styria. She studied recorder with Robert Finster at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz as well as with Rahel Stoellger at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where she graduated with honours in 2003. Furthermore, she attended master courses and seminars with Han Tol, Kees Boeke and the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet. Karin received the university prize of appraisal in 2003. She teaches the recorder at the Johann-Joseph Fux Conservatory in Graz and performs with various ensembles including the recorder quintet Vuenv, the early music ensemble Morgaine, and the Irish folk band Shenanigans.
Artist message to visitors
Delve into the unique world and distinctive sound of the ‘the Early Music Band’ Quadriga Consort. We break down stylistic barriers in a way that makes you forget there have ever been any musical genres.
Programme
Songs & Tunes From The Isles
Traditional Early Music from England, Scotland and Ireland
Traditional An-Dro dance (Bretagne)
Breton Dance
Traditional song (Scotland)
John Barleycorn
Traditional song (Scotland)
Twa Bonnie Maidens
Traditional reel (Ireland)
The Poison Ivy Leaf
Traditional song (England)
The Holland Handkerchief
Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738)
Carolan’s Cup / The Two William Davises
Traditional song (Ireland)
Cliffs of Doneen
Traditional Jig/Reel/Jig, Ireland
T’Athair Jack Walsh / Jennie’s Wedding / Monaghan Jig
Traditional sea song (Scotland)
The Bonny Ship the Diamond
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Traditional sea song (England)
The Coasts of High Barbary
Traditional song (England)
Fare-thee-Well Cold Winter
Traditional song (England)
The Rich Old Lady
Traditional tune (England)
Newcastle
Traditional jig (Ireland)
James Betagh Jig
Traditional song (Ireland)
Pulling the Sea-Dulse
Niel Gow (1727-1807)
Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of His Second Wife
Traditional sea song (England)
The Saucy Sailor
Traditional song (England / Scotland)
The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies, O!
About the concert programme
The first piece Breton Dance, a traditional circle dance called ‘An-Dro’, is the only musical piece not directly from the British Isles but from the neighbouring Brittany, France. Breton history is however not unconnected with British history, as it was settled around 500 AD by Britons (hence the name) who had fled from Britain. The relation between Brittany and Britain is also evident in the fact that the Breton language is one of six existing Celtic languages (along with Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh and Cornish) and the only Celtic language spoken on the continent. Typical for Breton dances are the two parts, the first being in 4/4 and the second in 6/8 time.
John Barleycorn was well-known throughout England long before the ballad was printed in the Journal of the Folk Song Society (c. 1615). Barley is an ancient crop and was the chief bread grain in Europe up to the 16th century, besides being the main ingredient of whiskey and beer, of course. The name John Barleycorn is the personification of the barley grain and is often used as a term for hard liquor. In the song, John Barleycorn tells of the agony he experiences as he is harvested and bound, gathered up by the farmer and thrown onto a cart. He is then threshed and thrown into water to soak. After being dried again, his final ordeal is being ground in a mill.
The words to Twa Bonnie Maidens were published by James Hogg in Jacobite Relics, Volume II (1819) as Prince Charles and Flora Macdonald's Welcome to Sky. It was originally in Gaelic. The tune is actually attributed to Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). The two maidens referred to are Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald. Charles Edward Stewart (Bonnie Prince Charlie), the Young Pretender, was defeated by the Duke of Cumberland on Culloden Moor in 1746. Aided by Flora MacDonald, Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped to the island of Skye. He was later taken by a French vessel to Morlaix on the coast of Bretagne.
The Quadriga Consort repeatedly pays tribute to the tradition of stringing different jigs and reels together to form sets of these living traditional dance tunes in its programmes. The given names are as creative as the Irish folk musicians. Here we have a reel with the strange name The Poison Ivy Leaf.
The Holland Handkerchief, originally also titled ‘The Suffolk Miracle’, is a very creepy, mysterious song. The lyrics read like the screenplay of a Hollywood movie, full of drama, emotion and a twist to make your blood run cold. Nikolaus Newerkla tweaked the original melody a little and in his hands this ancient ballad became something of a power ballad. But with a harpsichord instead of an electric guitar.
An example of Turlough O’Carolan’s (famous blind Irish harper) craft is Captain Magan, a so-called planxty, i.e. a piece that was composed as an homage to a patron. In O’Carolan’s case these patrons were contemporaries who were regarded as belonging to the ‘high society’ in Ireland at the time. The programme includes a set of two tunes by O’ Carolan: Carolan’s Cup/The Two William Davises.
The Cliffs of Dooneen is a beautiful Irish ballad written by Jack McAuliffe from Lixnaw (County Kerry) about the cliffs around Dooneen Point near Beale, North Kerry in the south west of Ireland. So it is actually only about 120 years old.
T’Athair Jack Walsh/Jennie’s Wedding/Monaghan Jig is another set of traditional jigs and reels from Ireland.
The Bonny Ship the ‘Diamond’ is a song about the West Greenland whale fishing in the 1820s. Between 1795 and 1815, pirates who attacked ships along the North African coast (Barbary Coast) made life difficult for American seafarers. An old ballad that was originally about conflicts between English and French ships was given new lyrics during this period and has since been known as On the Coasts of High Barbary.
What a find! Quadriga Consort were absolutely thrilled when they discovered Fare-Thee-Well, Cold Winter. This song has such a riveting text and spellbinding melody, that no one would understand why there are hardly any recordings of it so far. An old traditional touching song of separations, farewells and new beginnings.
The Rich Old Lady is a hilarious old bit of black humour; this grotesque miniature could only be from early England.
The Dancing Master by John Playford is probably the best known collection of traditional folk tunes and its exact content is revealed in its full title: ‘The English Dancing Master: or, Plaine and easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, with the Tune to each Dance’. London, Printed by Thomas Harper; and are to be sold by John Playford, at his Shop in the inner Temple neere the Church doore, 1651. The collection contains not only the instrumental melodies but also the dance instructions for over five hundred country dances. In this programme Quadriga has connected Newcastle from the Dancing Master with Turlough O’ Carolan’s James Betagh Jig.
Pulling the Sea-Dulse is the ultimate Irish love song: old yet timeless, possessing great strength and beauty but also simplicity. We see a young woman on the shore, gathering the sea dulse from the rocks. She hears the roar of the surf and her longing gaze wanders over the open sea, where she knows her loved one to be: “Clings dulse to the sea rock / Clings heart to the loved one / Be’t high tide or low tide.”
Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of His Second Wife is a moving melody by the most famous Scottish fiddler of all time.
The humorous Saucy Sailor is another song that is popular throughout the British Isles and has been sung at sea since the 18th century.
Printed versions of the ballad The Wraggle-Taggle Gypsies, O! can be found as early as 1720. In 1788 the song became associated with John, the sixth Earl of Cassilis, and his first wife, Lady Jean Hamilton. Many versions of the song have a happy ending, although historically the story ended fatally for the gypsy and several others of his group, who were sentenced to be hanged.
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