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24 MARCH, 2:30PM
Music marks history in a unique and poignant way. Mozart’s legacy is epitomised in the Dissonance Quartet which is revered for its daring harmony that broke all the rules, as well as its soaring melodies and sense of humour. Ethel Smyth’s first string quartet displays epic vision that combines rhythmic angularity with deeply intelligent and sophisticated lyricism, no less groundbreaking than her inspired leadership of the suffragettes. Gordon Kerry’s legacy is already evident in ensuring the essence of 21st century Australia is chronicled through sound in his timbres and driving rhythms while drawing inspiration from ancient plainchant.
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11 AUGUST, 2:30PM
Beethoven turned Western classical music on its head with his inventiveness, setting a blueprint for future composers to follow in finding ingenious ways to discard the rules of traditional composition. The very popular American composer, Caroline Shaw, quite literally created a blueprint of Beethoven’s joyous and playful Opus 18 No. 6 quartet; her composition of the same name proves that the master is still at work inspiring composers today.
In Beethoven’s Opus 135, his last quartet is characterised by the crazily whacky Scherzo movement with rhythmic tricks galore, not to mention first violin acrobatics in the Trio, followed by the devastatingly touching slow movement in the unexpected, warm key of D flat major. This last quartet is certainly quite different from the ‘late’ quartets that preceded it; it’s often said that it marked the beginning of a new period for Beethoven, but we’ll never know for sure.
In Beethoven’s Opus 135, his last quartet is characterised by the crazily whacky Scherzo movement with rhythmic tricks galore, not to mention first violin acrobatics in the Trio, followed by the devastatingly touching slow movement in the unexpected, warm key of D flat major. This last quartet is certainly quite different from the ‘late’ quartets that preceded it; it’s often said that it marked the beginning of a new period for Beethoven, but we’ll never know for sure.goes here
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27 OCTOBER, 2:30PM
Fanny’s son, Sebastian Hensel, published a collection of family correspondence, and together with other writings from Fanny, this special performance sees the music of Felix explored through his sister’s eyes.
Taking inspiration from Felix’s very successful and much loved incidental music for the play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, Bryony Marks has been commissioned to write her own incidental music linking together the dramatic and musical elements of this performance, and connecting these characters and the music that defines them. Felix Mendelssohn was heavily influenced by Beethoven’s string quartets, becoming infatuated with Opus 132 and copying it out note by note in his journal. Like Beethoven, Mendelssohn’s string quartets track his life: from the optimism of his first string quartet, Opus 12, to the tragedy of the last, Opus 80, which was written in response to the death of Fanny. Both composers penned their final notes in their string quartets.
Richard Piper has collaborated with Flinders Quartet on a number of previous projects including ‘Puck’s Dream (after Midsummer)’, the Shostakovich cycle, and ‘Bartok, My Father.’