Piatti Quartet

St Martin-in-the-FieldsTrafalgar Square

London WC2N 4JJ

020 7766 1100 www.smitf.org

Available to watch as many times as you like from 7.30pm, Thursday 25 March 2021, and available for 30 days.

PROGRAMME

Chacony in G minor — Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

String Quartet No 1 in F — Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

String Quartet No 12 in F ‘American’ — Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904)

Piatti Quartet (c. Victor Erik Emmanuel)

PROGRAMME NOTESby Sarah Maxted

In 2010 the Piatti Quartet became the first ensemble to take home the coveted trophy of the inaugural St Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition. In partnership with Making Music, the competition embodies St Martin’s commitment to the discovery, nurture and promotion of new and emerging talent. Over the past ten years, participating ensembles have enjoyed the opportunity to perform at St Martin’s, sharing in the church’s long musical history and prestigious location at the heart of London. For the winning musicians, the competition prize has offered a unique platform of paid opportunities and professional exposure, propelling hard-working and talented ensembles towards national and international success. A decade since their triumph at the very first St Martin’s Chamber Music Competition, the highly acclaimed Piatti Quartet return with a stunning anniversary programme, showcasing their versatility and passionate interpretations of string quartet repertoire.

Chacony in G minor is a gem of baroque string music, composed by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) in around 1680. Purcell was born in London in 1659, where he lived close to Westminster Abbey and followed in the auspicious footsteps of his uncle to become a chorister of the Chapel Royal. Purcell later held the organist positions at both the Abbey and Chapel Royal simultaneously, whilst composing prolifically for church, court and theatre. The original performance circumstances of the Chacony in G minor are unknown, so it could either have been incidental theatre music or a concert piece for court dances. A chacony, or chaconne in French, is an ostinato variation form that was popular during the baroque era. The version that we hear this evening is an arrangement by Purcell's great champion, Benjamin Britten. The key of G minor gives the music dignity and emotional weight, but the richness of Purcell’s ornamentation and the rhythmic drive of the ground bass elevate the piece from deep melancholy to something rather more soulful and striving.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in Bonn, where he received his early musical education and published some of his first compositions. He moved to Vienna in 1792 and furthered his studies with composers including Franz Joseph Haydn and Antonio Salieri, whilst rapidly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. This period of development led to a fantastic array of chamber music pieces for aristocratic patrons and the premiere of his first major orchestral work, the First Symphony in 1800. By this time, Beethoven’s hearing was already declining (he would famously become almost totally deaf in the next decade or so) but the advancement of his influential ‘heroic’ composition style was only just beginning. Through his chamber and orchestral masterpieces, he extended the inherited musical language of the classical period towards the expressive new possibilities of the Romantic era.

Beethoven composed a total of sixteen string quartets across three distinct chapters of his life, so they are generally referred to as the Early, Middle and Late quartets. String Quartet No 1 in F is the first of the six ‘Early’ quartets, written between 1798 and 1800 on the commission of Beethoven’s patron Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz. Published in 1801, they built on the classical string quartet tradition of Mozart and Haydn, demonstrating Beethoven’s absolute mastery of the established form and paving the way to the intellectually daring accomplishments of his later quartets.

The quartet begins with an ebullient Allegro con brio which pulses with harmonic intrigue. The second movement is an Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato, reportedly inspired by the tomb scene in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Its inherent drama unfolds with poignantly beautiful melodies and heart-wrenching cadential moments of silence. In the third movement, Scherzo: Allegro Molto, Beethoven maintains an element of tension with unexpected phrase-lengths and careening melodic motifs. The anticipated relief comes in the Allegro final movement. Here, Beethoven’s contrapuntal breeziness brings balance and balm after the high emotional stakes of the preceding movements.

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was a Czech composer, born in a small village north of Prague where he played violin in a local folk band with his father. His prodigious musical talent was quickly recognised and the young Dvořák was encouraged to take additional lessons in organ, piano and music theory. He went on to the Organ School of Prague and spent the industrious first decade of his career playing, teaching and composing in the city. From the 1870s onwards Dvořák’s compositions won international acclaim and he emerged as a clear successor to Bedřich Smetana’s compositional legacy, developing a national musical idiom rooted in Moravian and Bohemian folk influences.

From 1892-1895 Dvořák lived in New York City as the director of the National Conservatory of Music. During this time, he strove to explore how the folk heritage of Native American and African American music could contribute to a uniquely American style of art music. One of the great products of this exploration was his Symphony No 9 ‘From the New World’, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in December 1893. Earlier that year, Dvořák had spent the summer months with friends in the Czech immigrant community of Spillville, Iowa. Here he composed two chamber works that have come to be nicknamed ‘American’: the String Quintet in Eb and the String Quartet No 12 in F. Dvořák did not apply the ‘American’ subtitle to these pieces himself, but he acknowledged the influence of his location, observing “I should never have written these works 'just so' if I hadn't seen America".

The Allegro ma non troppo first movement opens with an expansive viola theme, establishing the pentatonic tonality that lends the quartet much of its spacious feeling. The movement weaves through dense harmonies and distinctive syncopations into a fugato passage that heralds an invigorating recapitulation of the opening theme. The second movement is a haunting Lento, perhaps influenced by the sweeping melodies of the African American spirituals introduced to Dvořák by baritone Harry Burleigh. In the succinct third movement, Molto vivace, Dvořák evokes the liveliness of a leisure-filled summer in Spillville, drawing on the Midwestern countryside and the birdsong of the local scarlet tanager. These high spirits continue into the rhythmic Finale movement, a whirlwind rondo of contrasting themes. One appealing interpretation of this final movement is that Dvořák was inspired by his lifelong fascination with rail travel, depicting blurred vistas of the American landscape as glimpsed from a speeding steam locomotive.

PERFORMERS

Piatti Quartet

Michael Trainor ViolinRebecca Chan Violin

Tetsuumi Nagata ViolaJessie Ann Richardson Cello

The Piatti Quartet are one of the most distinguished quartets of their generation. Prizewinners at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, they have performed in all the major venues and festivals around the UK, and given concerts throughout the world. They are renowned for their diverse programming and for passionate interpretations across the spectrum of quartet writing.

They are particularly known for expanding the quartet genre through their collaborations with leading British composers. Recent recordings include discs of works by Vaughan Williams (Hyperion) and Gavin Higgins, and they will also premiere a new string quartet by Emily Howard at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in April 2021 (a Concertgebouw co-commission). The Quartet previously commissioned Joseph Phibbs’ String Quartet No 1 and a released disc for the Champs Hill label featuring this work alongside the premiere recording of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad, with classics by Britten and Bridge. Other current commissions and recent premieres include new works by Mark Anthony Turnage (having premiered his fourth string quartet, Winter’s Edge, at the Klarafestival, Brussels in 2019), Darren Bloom, Simon Holt, Freya Waley-Cohen and Jacques Cohen. At the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, the Piatti Quartet won 2nd Prize as well as the St. Lawrence SQ prize and the Sidney Griller Award for the best performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Contusion.

The Piatti Quartet takes its name from the great 19th-century cellist Alfredo Piatti, who was a leading professor and exponent of chamber music at the Royal Academy of Music.

Our thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, for supporting the Fresh Horizons concert series at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

This concert was pre-recorded in the church and edited together before broadcast. The performers and technical crew carefully adhere to all current government regulations for COVID-19.

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Other online concerts from St Martin-in-the-Fields:

London Mozart Players: Beethoven Violin ConcertoThursday 25 February, 7.30pm

Stile Antico: Toward the DawnThursday 4 March, 7.30pm

Academy of St Martin in the Fields: Bach and BrahmsThursday 11 March, 7.30pm

Peter DonohoeThursday 18 March, 7.30pm

Stainer – The CrucifixionThursday 1 April, 7.30pm

Handel – MessiahThursday 8 April, 7.30pm

The Gesualdo SixThursday 15 April, 7.30pm

Academy of St Martin in the Fields with John ButtThursday 22 April, 7.30pm

Chineke! Chamber EnsembleThursday 29 April, 7.30pm

All concerts are available to watch from 30 days after their release date

A beautiful spring-themed online concert, The Gift of Life. Taking inspiration from the joyful colours of spring, this uplifting concert is available to

stream online now from the comfort of your own home, for just £10. Purchase tickets online at www.smitf.org/gift-of-life.