Sirmen: Six String Quartets

The Lombardini Quartet is not only named after the Venetian violin virtuoso and composer Maddalena Laura LombardiniSirmen, but now also recorded her versatile "Sei quartetti" op.3 from 1769. Lombardini Sirmen was one of the few womento realise a career as a professional musician in the 18th century and, according to sources, the first woman to composestring quartets, at a time when this genre was still extremely young and in the formal experimental stage. The interpreter'shighest credo is always the speaking play and the uncovering of all affects in the music, of the finest emotions, which oftenchange so quickly in the quartets - a veritable rollercoaster of feelings. All the quartets are in two movements and enchantwith their variety of colours and richness of form: "Like a walk through a blossoming spring meadow: It is worthwhile to turnone's gaze very carefully to the many beauties that nature offers to the left and right. We felt the same way aboutLombardini's music: many little flowers by the wayside to discover, some large and recognisable at first glance, some verysmall and easy to overlook. It is fragile music that reveals a rich inner life on closer inspection," says Elisabeth Wiesbauerof the Lombardini Quartet.