The Archduke and the USA
Attacca Quartet begin their Festival residency by performing recent, some very recent, some not so recent works by top contemporary US composers. Appropriately they begin with a piece from 2016 by Caroline Shaw called Blueprint, that is a commentary or conversation on Beethoven’s Malinconia quartet – ‘like a marble bust, stoic and grand and still, but with a little wink or some side-eye.’ A Bon-Vivant’s Companion was written as a gift from Michael Ippolito to his dear friends in the Attacca Quartet, in celebration of their twenty-first season as a Quartet. Each movement is named after a drink that might be enjoyed on a night out with friends! David Lang’s ‘daisy’ was premiered by Attacca Quartet at the Venice Biennale in 2024. It was meant to be paired with ‘Black Angels’, George Crumb’s Vietnam War Odyssey so it has a dark and threatening ambience.
Beethoven’s Archduke Trio comes from another but no less relevant world. It was dedicated to the Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven’s pupil, friend and last reliable benefactor. The Archduke was the youngest brother of the Emperor so it is fitting that the work that bears his name should be such majestic and bountiful music. It is written in Beethoven's Olympian manner with a nobility of expression that transports you to that instantly recognisable world of his greatest works.
