Chamber concert

chamber — Bennewitz Quartet: Jakub Fišer, Štěpán Ježek, Jiří Pinkas and Štěpán Doležal with music by Haydn, Beethoven and Schnittke.

Bennewitz Quartet, photo by Milan Moshna

We are not the only ones who have trouble remembering catalog numbers and key words today. Also, listeners of Joseph Haydn's music in the 19th century were looking for sound associations, and nicknames, thrown in jest, often became official subtitles of works. This was the case with the Quartet in G major, Op. 33 No. 5, whose serene opening suggested an association with the phrase “How do you do?”. In this way, this work is still called the quartet “How are you?”.
A completely different kind of musical memory is proposed by Alfred Schnittke in his String Quartet III. The work attracts attention with numerous references to the music of different eras, which is the hallmark of the creator. Schnittke goes back to the Renaissance Stabat Mater by Orlando di Lasso, the musical signature of Dmitr Shostakovich and songs by Gustav Mahler. In this dark collage, references to one of the greatest innovators of the genre, Ludwig van Beethoven and his Great Fugue for string quartet, could not be missing.
It is Beethoven who breaks away from the chamber elegance of salon music in favor of a monumental, almost symphonic momentum, a prime example of which is the Quartet in E minor Op. 59 No. 2. The slow part of the work is accompanied by a charming, albeit only indirectly, anecdote. According to Carl Czerny, Beethoven was supposed to find her mood by contemplating the starry sky and thinking about the “music of the spheres”.
The program will be presented by the Bennewitz Quartet — an outstanding Czech band, combining emotional intensity with clarity of sound.

Bartłomiej Gembicki