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"Rastrelli" Cello Quartet
Our aspiration is to prove that it is possible to play any kind of music on the cello -- from baroque to rock, especially between the genres, becoming more and more uncertain in modern music.
Each of us learned to say the word "cello" before we learned to say our own names. However, since meeting in Stuttgart (Germany) in spring 2002, and later performing together, we ended up forgetting the name of our instrument. Our ensemble's repertoire consists entirely of transcriptions, music not intended to be performed on the cello. Our goal is to make the listener hear the saxophone playing in "The Melody" by Sokolov, to make a ragtime-battered piano sound in a silent movie, to let them hear Piazzola play the bandoneon again...
Why "Rastrelli?" Three of us were born in St. Petersburg (Russia) where we spent our childhood and student years, so we took the name of the genius Italian architect who was invited to build the new capital of Russia by the King some 300 years ago.
Kira Kraftzoff, Kirill Timofeev, Misha Degtjareff and Sergio Drabkine established the quartet in April 2002 in Stuttgart, and shortly thereafter recorded two tunes - "The Melody" by Sokolov and "Rhapsody-Tango" on the theme of Oscar Strock. After a number of concerts the quartet was invited by the company Ars-Verona to record an album by Amphion Record. Since 2002 we recorded two new albums "Cello in Jazz" and "Cello in Classic."
Man has always wanted to overcome gravity and learn to fly. Our dream is to forget that it is only the cello that we are playing and learn to reincarnate. How well we achieve this aim is up to you to judge.
"Cellos are like garlic--there's no such thing as too much."
- San Antonio Express
"Four masters blessed with musical wit and fire..." - Frankfurter Rundschu, 2005.
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