Und es ward Licht! (And There Was Light!) [Double Album] [Pure DSD]

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Und es ward Licht! (And There Was Light!) [Double Album] [Pure DSD]

Label Cobra Records

Artists Cuarteto Quiroga, Veronika Hagen

€29,99 EUR

Tax included.

After the success of their 5 previous DSD releases from Cobra Records at NativeDSD, the internationally acclaimed Cuarteto Quiroga returns with And There Was Light! (Und es ward Licht!). A double album joining forces with the world-renowned violist Veronika Hagen to depict musically one of the most fascinating periods in music history: the birth and triumph of string quartet as genre. With it, the advent of a new era. In which a new generation of Europeans saw in this pure, instrumental music an art that emanated from reason and thought but spoke directly to the feelings. And so had the power to persuade and convince, perfectly combining the syntactic and structural force of language with the free semantic poetics of the imagination. Music to illuminate a new world, music to instruct and seduce. A universal, democratizing music, modern and enlightened.

To illustrate this journey to the musical Aufklärung the carefully selected repertoire focuses on four masterpieces by Haydn and Mozart written all in C-major, the symbolic key of Light, the key chosen as well by Haydn himself to depict the moment of Creation in his most famous oratorio, with the luminous cry of “Und Es Ward Licht!”. This recording explains and celebrates a musical process which, child of its time, ended up shaping a way of writing and making music that would guide generations of composers, performers and music lovers, and whose ethical and aesthetic reflections still gleam brightly today. The four works of this double album are beacons of light that relate to and intersect with one another – as listening to them conveys with great eloquence – their beams of light triangulating a musical map that defines the new era of modernity. A journey from darkness to light, from ingenuity to genius, from the human to the sublime. A journey to the very roots of Europe’s musical and cultural identity. This is a Pure DSD 256 release. Recorded to Stereo, 5 Channel and Binaural DSD 256. It is made available in other DSD bit rates using the Signalyst HQ Player 4 Pro mastering tools by NativeDSD Mastering Engineer Tom Caulfield. Cuarteto Quiroga Aitor Hevla - Violin Cibran Sierra - Violin Josep Puchades - Viola Helena Poggio - Violoncello, Bird Whistling (Track 2) Veronika Hagen - Viola Special Guest, Mozart String Quintet in C Major (Tracks 13-16) [embed]https://youtu.be/0sYCm_wPjnA[/embed]

Tracklist

Total time: 01:55:04

1. String Quartet in C major Op.33 No.3 Hob.III-39 - 1.Allegro Moderato

10:42

2. String Quartet in C major Op.33 No.3 Hob.III-39 - 2.Scherzo, Allegretto - Trio

03:12

3. String Quartet in C major Op.33 No.3 Hob.III-39 - 3.Adagio ma non troppo

06:02

4. String Quartet in C major Op.33 No.3 Hob.III-39 - 4.Rondo, Presto

02:46

5. String Quartet in C major K.465 'Dissonances' - 1.Adagio - Allegro

11:04

6. String Quartet in C major K.465 'Dissonances' - 2.Andante cantabile

08:15

7. String Quartet in C major K.465 'Dissonances' - 3.Menuetto, Allegro - Trio

05:18

8. String Quartet in C major K.465 'Dissonances' - 4.Allegro molto

07:56

9. String Quartet in C major Op.74 No.1 Hob.III-72 - 1.Allegro moderato

07:00

10. String Quartet in C major Op.74 No.1 Hob.III-72 - 2.Andantino grazioso

06:23

11. String Quartet in C major Op.74 No.1 Hob.III-72 - 3.Menuetto, Allegretto - Trio

05:13

12. String Quartet in C major Op.74 No.1 Hob.III-72 - 4.Finale, Vivace

05:43

13. String Quintet in C major K.515 - 1.Allegro

13:42

14. String Quintet in C major K.515 - 2.Andante

08:57

15. String Quintet in C major K.515 - 3.Menuetto, Allegretto - Trio

05:25

16. String Quintet in C major K.515 - 4.Allegro

07:26

Additional Information

Label

Cobra Records

SKU

COBRA0076

Qualities

FLAC 96 kHz, FLAC 192 kHz, DSD 64, DSD 128, DSD 256, DSD 512

Channels

2ch Stereo, 5ch Surround, 2ch Binaural, 2ch Stereo & 5ch Surround, 2ch Stereo & 2ch Binaural, 2ch Stereo & 5ch Surround & 2ch Binaural

Artists

Cuarteto Quiroga, Veronika Hagen

Composers

Haydn, Mozart

Genres

Classical

Original Recording Format

DSD 256

Instruments

String quartet

Release Date

August 20, 2021

Pure DSD
Edit Master Sourced
Higher Rates Program
Not Available on SACD

Reviews

Classica

Fabienne Bouvet

If the transparent textures and the subtle nuances bring a lot of elegance to this reading, the youthful momentum, the mischievous lines and the sparkling flights reveal the malice of Haydn: you have to listen to the Finale of the Quartet op. 74 n1 all in spurts and fireworks, or the Trio from the Quartet op. 33 n3 suddenly surrounded by birdsong!
The Mozartian spirit is not to be outdone, especially in the Andante cantabile of the Quartet n19, sublime in its balance and grain, drunk with singing, or in the final Allegro of the String Quintet K.515, impulsive, smiling , lightweight…this new album seduces, charms and interests.

Positive Feedback

Rushton Paul

I am delighted each time I listen to this album. I am entranced by the superb musicianship, and I am in awe of a performing group that can so compellingly well interpret and present music of composers across five centuries with such broadly varying musical traditions. In this sixth album for Cobra Records, Cuarteto Quiroga returns to music of the Enlightenment with works by Haydn and Mozart.

The Cuarteto Quiroga perform with modern instruments but they bring to their performances of Haydn and Mozart a sympathy for historically informed musical practice using minimal vibrato and a light delicate touch. What makes these performances so special to me are the precise ensemble work, the high energy, and that ineluctable ability to apparently read each other's thoughts—a virtual mind-meld—in the realization of their creative objectives. They are just a joy to hear...

I said at the outset about this most recent album that "it's a stunner." Why? The performances are excellent, of course. But it is the sound quality that truly made me sit up straight and listen. This is one of Tom's few Pure DSD256 releases. The sonics have a transparency that only Pure DSD256 releases deliver...

...As with so many of Tom's excellent recordings, we have a very happy combination of superb acoustic venue (the Westvest90 Church, Schiedam, The Netherlands) and masterful recording skills that both support and enhance the performance. Just gorgeous recordings.

Source: positive-feedback.com

Diapason

Patrick Szersnovicz

Brilliant and muscular playing, technically flawless, impeccable, and clear vocals, discreet or absent vibrato (...).

The Cuarteto Quiroga testifies to a great unity, radiating joy and light from the first notes of Opus 33 n3 'L'Oiseau'. Joined by the violist Veronika Hagen, their ample, sharp reading of the Quintet KV 515 reveals in an exemplary way the melodic contrasts of an exceptional work of audacity and intensity.

Music Emotion

Theo Wubbolts

I'm impressed from the first bars of this album. And not for the first time.

With the recordings of Cuarteto Quiroga released to date in DSD on 'our' Dutch quality label Cobra Records – from master producer and recording engineer Tom Peeters – this happens to me time and time again.

The impassioned playing of this quartet, which has four beautiful instruments, moves you deeply with the works now played from the 'father' of the string quartet – Joseph Haydn.

Reviews by Customers

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Fractal Conceptual FieldsJune 13, 2026Verified buyer

My center of gravity is earlier than Haydn and Mozart. Telemann, Vivaldi, Handel, and HIP performance are the deities of my musical pantheon. I’m generally ambivalent about “standard” Classical‑era repertoire. But Cuarteto Quiroga has an exemplary reputation for integrated, precise yet organically flowing performances. So I bought Und es ward Licht! to check out the binaural scene for the first time.

Their presentation of K. 515 once forced me to rethink my otherwise lukewarm view of Mozart (I know, I know - just being honest). Perhaps his early, teenage works don’t land with me. His late chamber writing, however, speaks a language I know intimately well. Cuarteto Quiroga are the ones who delivered that realization.

The binaural version on a good open‑back headphone (Sennheiser HD800S / Meze Empyrean II) off a FIIO M27 balanced chain is what finally made me understand the title. The quartet is set in a luminous, well‑defined acoustic. First violin clearly articulated, cello anchored but not over‑weighted, inner voices with their own air. The imaging feels like natural binaural rather than an exaggerated effect. You’re in the room with them, not inside the instruments.

Tonally, this is not a hyped, spotlighted audiophile spectacular. It sits on the honest side of neutral. Maybe even a touch lean compared to some romanticized string recordings. On the HD800S that means plenty of sparkle but not the white glare I sometimes get from bright sopranos. On my system it’s a long‑session listen rather than a forensic microscope. If you’re used to very warm, close‑miked quartets, this may initially sound a bit cool. But it’s the kind of cool that pays you back in phrase shape and line separation over an hour.

As a Pure DSD release, it’s a useful reminder of what that actually buys you. Not magic tone, but a certain ease in the decay tails and a lack of edge on ensemble attacks when the performance and mix are already good. It changes the way your attention can move through the texture more than it delivers some crude “more detail” effect.

For listeners who already love Haydn and Mozart, this is an easy recommendation. For people like me who live mostly with the Baroque spectrum (C.P.E. Bach marking the transition) and Renaissance polyphony, "Und es ward Licht!" is one of the rare projects that makes the high‑classical quartet world feel like a necessary extension rather than a different planet.

Und es ward Licht! (And There Was Light!) [Double Album] [Pure DSD]

Und es ward Licht! (And There Was Light!) [Double Album] [Pure DSD]

€29,99 EUR

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