Program:
Beethoven - String quartet on. 18, no. 6
Mendelssohn - String quartet on. 44, No. 2
Britten - String Quartet No. 3, on. 94
String quartets with a touch of nostalgia
For more than twenty years the Doric Quartet has played in the highest regions of the international chamber music scene. The ensemble received enthusiastic reactions from audiences and critics worldwide. "This is a beautiful ensemble, intelligent, technically brilliant, miraculously balanced," The Times wrote enthusiastically about the Doric Quartet. The Doric Quartet has won several important prizes, including First Prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition 2008 in Japan and Second Prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy. As the icing on the cake, the Doric Quartet made its debut at Carnegie Hall in 2017. In the Edesche Concert Hall the Doric Quartet dives into atmospheric string quartets by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Britten. Music with a touch of nostalgia, with which the composers let themselves be heard from their most vulnerable side.
Beethoven's "La Malinconia
Nothing with Beethoven is what it seems. That certainly applies to his 'Sixth String Quartet'. In Beethoven's time, the audience will undoubtedly have raised their eyebrows when the last part began. After three more or less conventional parts, the mood in the last part suddenly changes. The quartet also owes its nickname 'La Malinconia' (The melancholy) to this closing movement. "This piece must be played with the greatest tenderness," Beethoven wrote above it explicitly. And indeed this music is one of Beethoven's most intense compositions.
Mendelssohn's melancholy
Mendelssohn was a Beethoven fan from the very beginning. In his first string quartets he sometimes refers to his great example, in the 'Fourth String Quartet' Mendelssohn himself sounds particularly well. Anyone who has heard Mendelssohn's famous 'Violin Concerto' will recognize a lot in his 'Fourth String Quartet'. Apart from the fact that both pieces share the same key, they both start with a long melancholic melody. The slow movement is a beautiful 'Lied ohne Worte', as only Mendelssohn could write it.
Britten's last string quartet
Britten's 'Third String Quartet' was the composer's last instrumental piece. Just like Beethoven, Britten gave the last movement its own title: 'La Serenissima' (The most serene). In it Britten incorporated music from his own opera 'Death in Venice'. A meaningful act, because Britten completed his 'Third String Quartet' in Venice, a year before his death.
The Doric Quartet consists of:
- Alex Redington, violin
- Ying Xue, violin
- Hélène Clément, viola
- John Myerscough, cello
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strijkkwartet viool altviool cello Ludwig van Beethoven Benjamin Britten Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Death in Venice Venetië La Malinconia La serenissima Kamermuziek