Sini Simonen, violin
Daniel Roberts, violin
Charlotte Bonneton, viola
Christopher Graves, violoncello
Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
String Quartet in F major op. 35
Thomas Adès (* 1971)
The Four Quarters op. 28
Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
String Quartet in B flat major op. 67
The Castalian String Quartet, founded in London in 2011, can already look back on great successes. First prize winners of the Lyon Competition, they have performed at the Heidelberger Frühling, the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker, Switzerland, China and major venues in their native Britain. Next season sees their debut at London's Wigmore Hall. Recordings with the BBC and a Mendelssohn CD highlight the Quartet's work. From 2012-15 the ensemble studied on the Hanover String Quartet Master's course in the class of Oliver Wille.
One of the most famous French string quartets is that of Maurice Ravel. At the beginning of the 20th century, the composer succeeded in creating his very own interpretation of the form and sound of this tradition-steeped royal genre. The beginning of the opening movement alone, which still begins in F major and then rises as if in pentatonic melody, accompanied by an ascending bass line, before finally descending again in the keys it has not yet touched, questions the relationships major/minor, tonic/dominant, as well as endings by means of cadences that seem either sudden or no longer conventional at all. We find ourselves in a new tonal language, almost seeming to float, even in the slow movement. A popular pizzicato movement with a rapturous middle section as well as a spectacular 5/8 final ride complete the quartet to a fantastically multi-layered work.
Composer Thomas Adès has found a language all his own for the string quartet. His work "Arcadiana" was followed in 2011 by "The Four Quarters," a Carnegie Hall commission for the Emerson Quartet. Whether this mysterious, unusually laid-out piece has anything to do with T.S. Eliot remains ambiguous. With exhausted playing techniques, the quartet illuminates various aspects of time.
The evening concludes with an unusual quartet, the third and last by Johannes Brahms. Almost like an homage to Mozart's Hunting Quartet, classical in its "Vivace," it begins with a transparent 6/8 gesture in the Duo/Tutti. But Brahms remains unmistakable, his "developing variation" described by Schönberg captivates in versatility of melodic, rhythmic and metric forms. The fresh and dramatically developing Vivace opening is followed by a dreamlike slow movement with a typical "Hungarian" middle section. The viola in particular plays a prominent role, both the agitato scherzo is dedicated to it, as well as wonderful variations in the final movement. Brahms' favourite instrument?
Text source and further information about this event: http://www.frankfurter-buergerstiftung.de/node/2215
