St. Lawrence String Quartet
Inon Barnatan, Piano
Performers
St. Lawrence String Quartet
·· Geoff Nuttall, Violin
·· Owen Dalby, Violin
·· Lesley Robertson, Viola
·· Christopher Costanza, Cello
Inon Barnatan, Piano
Program
HAYDN String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
BEETHOVEN String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57
Encore:
SCHUMANN Scherzo: Molto vivace from Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
HAYDN String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 20, No. 3
Haydn’s six Op. 20 string quartets dazzled audiences in the 1770s with their prodigal display of formal and melodic invention. By making the four players more or less equal partners, Haydn distanced himself from the top-heavy part writing that characterized the instrumental chamber music of the Rococo period. Although it is designated a divertimento a quattro on the manuscript, the Quartet No. 3 marks a sharp departure from the old-style string ensembles.
BEETHOVEN String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135
Beethoven’s 16 string quartets are the Mount Everest of the genre, the pinnacle which other composers have long aspired to scale. All five of his late-period quartets were composed between the summer of 1824 and the autumn of 1826. In contrast to the three knotty quartets (opp. 127, 130, and 132) written for Prince Nikolai Golitsyn, Beethoven’s Russian patron, the F-Major Quartet is a lucid, lighthearted work in a traditional four-movement format.
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57
In the summer of 1940, the Soviet Union was enjoying a brief respite from war, thanks to its short-lived pact with Nazi Germany. Although resolutely apolitical, Shostakovich couldn’t insulate himself from the paranoia and anxiety that affected every echelon of Soviet society in the wake of Stalin’s Great Terror. Like much of his music, the Piano Quintet veers from one stylistic and emotional extreme to another. In harmonizing these diverse and often discordant elements, the Russian composer created a highly personal musical language of extraordinary power and beauty.