String Quartets in the Diamond: The Ébène Quartet – Beethoven's String Quartets (1:6)
Hear Beethoven’s 16 string quartets across six concerts in the Queen’s Hall as the French star quartet Quatuor Ébène returns to The Black Diamond. This evening’s programme features Nos. 4, 5 and 12.
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827):
String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18 No. 5, “Lobkowitz”
String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4, “Lobkowitz”
Break
String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127
What do Beethoven's string quartets sound like 200 years after the composer's death?
In 2020, to mark Beethoven’s 250th birthday, the Ébène Quartet released all 16 of Beethoven's string quartets. The recordings were made all over the world, from Nairobi to Melbourne, and they received great praise for their contemporary interpretation.
The Ébène Quartet itself describes Beethoven's music as "music that expresses itself freely and that addresses the audience of the future rather than its own time."
Beethoven's 16 string quartets have taken pride of place in the chamber music repertoire, and they show his creative development as a composer. From the earliest Viennese Classical string quartets written in the wake of the genre's earlier masters, Haydn and Mozart, through the "middle period" when Beethoven broke with tradition and made the genre his own, and to his late string quartets written in the years leading up to his death, which have been called some of the most sublime music ever written.
String Quartet No. 4, No. 5 and No. 12
The concert opens with String Quartets No. 4 and No. 5 from Opus 18, which was Beethoven's first collection of string quartets (Nos. 1–6). The works were composed between 1798 and 1800 during Beethoven's early compositional period, which is characterised by the Viennese Classical style. The collection is dedicated to Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz, who was known for his interest in music and who became Beethoven's patron.
When Beethoven published his first collection of string quartets, he joined the ranks of great composers who had mastered the classical Viennese string quartet. Both Mozart and Haydn had already completed their string quartets by this time, and Haydn wrote his last two in 1799, the same year that Beethoven was working on the first ones. String Quartet No. 5 also draws on the music of Haydn and Mozart, especially Mozart's String Quartet No. 18 in A major, which is in the same key. At the same time, Beethoven's own style and personality, with a strong drive and imagination in the music, already shone through clearly here.
The String Quartet No. 4 is notable for beingthe only string quartet in Opus 18 written in a minor key. Beethoven published other works in the key of C minor, including his Fifth Symphony, and they all share the same intensity, power, and drama that also characterises the String Quartet No. 4.
String Quartet No. 12 is the first of Beethoven's late string quartets, which are more ambitious, experimental and structurally and harmonically complex. They are recognised today as some of the most "sublime" music ever written, and for being far ahead of their time. Yet they were written during a period when Beethoven had undergone a long series of personal tragedies. He suffered from both health and financial problems and in 1816 had become completely deaf, which isolated him. In November 1822, Beethoven received a letter from a young Russian prince, Galitzin, asking him to write a series of new string quartets, and this was the beginning of Beethoven's last and perhaps greatest musical achievement.
All the concerts in the series
You can read more about the programme on the concerts' event pages:
January 15 at 7:30 PM - String Quartet No. 5, No. 4 and No. 12
January 16 at 3:00 PM - String Quartet No. 3, No. 11 and No. 8
January 16 at 7:30 PM - String Quartet No. 1, No. 10 and No. 9
May 21 at 7:30 PM - String Quartet No. 7 and No. 13
The performers
Quatuor Ébène:
Pierre Colombet, violin
Gabriel Le Magadure, violin
Marie Chilemme, viola
Yuya Okamoto, cello
Quatuor Ébène was formed in 1999 at the conservatoire in Boulogne-Billancourt. Since then, the quartet has performed at internationally renowned venues such as Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York. Their performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s string quartets have also been heard at Philharmonie de Paris and Alte Oper in Frankfurt.
The quartet itself describes the string quartet as the musical form of democracy, in which each musician steps forward with their own voice while the whole emerges through shared interplay, attentiveness and mutual understanding.
Part of the series String Quartets in the Diamond
Photo: Ditte Valente / Det Kgl. Bibliotek
Some of the most central repertoire in chamber music is written for two violins, viola and cello.
In this series, the best string quartets from all over the world are invited on stage in the Queen's Hall.
The event is part of the series String Quartets in the Diamond.
String Quartets in the Diamond is supported by the Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.
