Barbican Quartet

J. Haydn, Quartetto in si bem. magg. per archi op. 50 n. 1
B. Bartók, Quartetto per archi n. 4 in do magg. BB 95, SZ 91
L. van Beethoven, Quartetto per archi n. 15 in la min. op. 132

The Barbican Quartet takes its name from the Barbican Center in London, where this young quartet gave its very first concert in 2015. The four international musicians have all won first prizes at the important 71st ARD Competition, besides various awards in other prestigious competitions.
This evening’s concert opens with Haydn’s quartet no. 1, op. 50.  Composed in 1787, it was dedicated to King Friedrich Wilheim of Prussia, a good amateur cellist himself, and its first movement offers a series of surprising passages for that instrument. Bartók’s Quartet no. 4, written in 1928 and first performed the year after, cleverly blends the style of the classical quartet with effects of timbre typical of Hungarian music. The second part of tonight’s program offers Beethoven’s Quartet op. 132, commissioned by the Russian patron Count Nikolai Galitzin. It was written in 1825, when the composer had been ill, and the third movement is marked “Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in Lydian mode”. Opus 132 is one of the peaks of Beethoven’s music, and a landmark in quartet music for all times.  
This evening’s appointment is not to be missed!