"On violins, viola and cello the four long-haired musicians of the 'Spring String Quartet' surprise their
audience by accentuating their groovy style with a mix of heavy metal, jazz and classical sounds. Not
only for their passionate interpretation of the Deep Purple cult-hit 'Smoke On The Water' did they
receive rapturous applause."
Main-Netz (concert with K. Wecker in the Old Opera Frankfurt on Dec 3rd, 2009), 3.12.09
"Already after the first few bars the hall goes wild, clapping and swinging. This is at least partly due to
the Spring String Quartet, who manages to coax astonishingly fragile sounds from their string
instruments and who adapts the rock-hymn 'Smoke On The Water' with breathtaking velocity. A
worthy accompaniment for Wecker, ..."
Frankfurter Allgemeine
"Already the choice of his accompanying ensemble can be seen as an absolute stroke of luck. With
their sensitive as well as powerful, rhythmically accentuated as well as humorously commenting string
parts, the four scraggy gentlemen from the Spring String Quartet contribute a lot more than just sugarsweet
icing on Wecker's songs. On the contrary, they shape the program with their extremely witty
and virtuoso instrumental pieces."
Nürnberger Nachrichten (Concert in April 2009 in the Nürnberg Opera)
"...and with their groovy sounds they enthralled their audience into sheer euphoria!"
OVB (Concert in Rosenheim, Nov 2009)
"...Konstantin Wecker, and the marvellous Spring String Quartet from Linz are edging each other on
towards groovy-exquisite new interpretations of his works."
OÖ Nachrichten (Linz09 harbour festival with Hubert von Goisern, July 2009)
"...the 'Spring String Quartet', who successfully straddles chamber music, Salsa and a parody on
'Smoke on the water'."
Nürnberger Zeitung (concert at the Nuremberg Opera house in Nov 2009)
"Off-beat and perfect violin groove, superbly presented.
...The four musicians shatter the myth of awkwardness which commonly surrounds
contemporary music. Some commissioned works by young composers are masterfully
presented. The audience in the sold out middle hall of the Brucknerhaus breaks
into enthusiastic applause whenever the quartet interprets classics of rock music..."
Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 2007/04/25
"A concert hall filled with raving fans,...
Cheerful and sentimental sounds alternate throughout the program; the fans were
roused by loud funky sounds and then calmed down again by almost meditative tunes..."
Österreich, 2007/04/25
> read
the complete review
"...until the listeners get yanked from their comfort zone and as their
ears get shattered by undescribable yet fascinating sounds. A classical rhythm
turns into a hard beat, a Viennese waltz becomes an insightful jazz composition.
Once you've experienced their music, there is only one thing left to do: forget
everything you thought you knew about String Quartet music: SSQ is fascinatingly
different!"
"Maybe only those with a great knowledge of Johann Strauss' compositions
will be able to understand in what extraordinarily sensitive way of each of his
pieces has been dealt with. But who needs to know that anyway ? The most important
thing is that their music was great. Indeed!"
Schwäbische Zeitung, 2004/09/27, Christiane Link-Raule
"...Finally a dream seems to come true: The meeting of two streams to
one big sound river in Lee Konitz's string project. Konitz masters the colours
of impressionism with the same artistry as the string quartet masters the expressive,
percussive riffs of Jazz music."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2004/11/09, Wolfgang Sandner
"...highly flexible string quartet. A precise and aggressive unit, the
Spring String Quartet ate this boppish material up with bold exchanges of eights
and a genuine sense of swing feel. Their slapping and tapping of the strings and
bodies of their instruments attained the desired percussive backbeat effect, giving
this precious-sounding music an edge."
JazzTimes, July 2003, Bill Milkowski
> read
the complete review
"Bought at the concert yesterday and already today firmly incorporated
amongst the favorite CDs...
The Austrian SPRING STRING QUARTET is equal to the Balanescu-Quartett in their
playing esprit and ability."
OÖ. Nachrichten, 2002/10/16, Irene Judmayer
"musically and brilliantly played..."
Der Weinberger
"...has the capacity to move their listeners on the one hand with wild
rock and pop sounds in almost euphoric enthusiasm just to then move them to tears
with jazz and blues rhythms... fantastically easy listening on a high musical
level is being offered here."
Neues Volksblatt, 2002/10/16, Ingrid Feilmayr
"Although the musicians appear as a classical string quartet group, their
concerts are miles away from chamber and other older music. The SPRING STRING
QUARTET demonstrates that not only rock bands can play groovy and powerful music.
...actually grasps the listeners by the hair and brings their heads in a whirl
until it has knocked out all prejudices with regard to 'violin music'."
Der Perger
"...the quartet surprised and filled its spectators with enthusiasm, which
called for one encore after the other..."
Pongauer Nachrichten