NSQF Autumn Series: Marmen Quartet
The Sunrise is perhaps the most popular of all Haydn’s wonderful string quartets. Each of its four movements is vividly characterised - the first evoking the rising of the sun, the second prayerful, the third presenting a wild dance and the finale creating imaginative variations around a simple folksong-like theme and building to a virtuosic conclusion.
Sam Perkin’s revision of his 2016 My Young Love Was Gone for voice and quartet will feature the singing voice of cellist Sinéad O’Halloran.
Bartók’s third quartet is one of the most astonishing achievements in all chamber music. This is a 17 minute rollercoaster ride of intense and riveting dialogue between the four instruments, never straying far from the folk music which is at the heart of his music and yet creating a language that is utterly new and unique. Kai Christiansen’s article at earsense.org and his selection of performances will tell you more!
Written just six months before his death in March 1827, Beethoven’s sublime last string quartet is a distillation of all that went before. The opening Allegretto more conversational than ever, the scherzo more ingenious and virtuosic, the Adagio perhaps the most profound and prayerful, and the closing movement entitled ‘Must it be?’ the most searching and prophetic.
Featured Artists
Marmen Quartet: Johannes Marmen, violin; Laia Braun, violin; Bryony Gibson-Cornish, viola; Sinéad O’Halloran, cello.
Programme
Haydn - String Quartet Op.76 No.4 Sunrise [1797]
Sam Perkin - My Young Love Was Gone [2016 rev. 2024]*
Bartók - String Quartet No.3 [1927]
Beethoven - String Quartet in F major Op.135 [1826]
*First performances
Venues & Dates
WATERFORD - Wednesday 5th November at 7.30pm - Dr. Mary Strangman Large Room, City Hall - presented by Waterford Music
CORK - Thursday 6th November at 7.30pm - MTU Cork School of Music - presented by Cork Orchestral Society
SLIGO - Friday 7th November at 7.30pm - The Model - presented by Con Brio
WEXFORD - Saturday 8th November at tbc - tbc - presented by Music for Wexford
DUBLIN - Sunday 9th November at 3pm - National Concert Hall