Concert Series 2012: Danish String Quartet
Friday 17 February 2012  8.00pm
Bantry House, Bantry, Co. Cork

Joseph Haydn String Quartet in D major Op.64/5 'The Lark'
Carl Nielsen String Quartet in F major Op.44       
Interval
Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No.6 in F minor Op.80

The Danish Quartet is a young, vibrant quartet, currently riding the crest of a wave after their victory in the London String Quartet Competition in 2010. Many of you will remember their visit to the 2010 chamber music festival, where they impressed all with their incredible energy and focus. This was all the more impressive as rumour had it that they spent every night leading trad music sessions around Bantry. It is good to know that our traditional music is alive and well and flourishing in Copenhagen.

Very early in their career the Danish Quartet produced a simply stunning recording of Nielsen’s string quartets, which sent your festival director in a long pursuit of the Quartet after the Director of Danish Radio had passed on the hot tip. Strangely young quartets can be incredibly difficult to contact and it took a visit to Copenhagen to pin them down. But now the Quartet is hooked on Bantry and the Quartet members were delighted to accept our invitation, on condition of a post-concert session!

Haydn’s Lark is one of his most popular quartets on account of the unforgettable lark’s melody from the first violin that opens the first movement, while the Adagio cantabile is an unearthly meditation, glowing with its intensity. Nielsen’s G minor quartet got a rave review at its premiere – undoubtedly the most important, most beautiful and most appealing piece of music one heard at the concert. Mendelssohn’s F minor Quartet was written after the tragic death of his sister Fanny, who had been the composer’s most intimate musical confidante throughout his life. Suddenly all Mendelssohn’s charm and civility falls away to reveal music of searing passion, almost a new composer, who alas did not have long to live.

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Admission €18, Students €10

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