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Australian String

Quartet National Season 2017

Beginnings

No 314 – 27 November

2427

-11

The Elder Conservatorium of Music is Australia’s oldest and most distinguished tertiary music school. For more than a century, staff at the Conservatorium have educated and inspired generations of performers, composers, teachers and leaders in the arts.

Home to the Australian String Quartet - our quartet in residence, the Conservatorium hosts a vibrant community of talented musicians and provides a supportive environment that encourages creativity, independence and excellence in music.

Staff and students of the Conservatorium are committed to the artistic, educational and community experience of music, and they share their passion and expression with the public through regular performances and concerts.

Visit our website to learn more about the program of events, and comprehensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees available in a wide variety of specialisations.

music.adelaide.edu.au

Elder Conservatorium of Music

Delivering over 130 years of music excellence

WelcomeWelcome to the Australian String Quartet’s third and final National Tour for 2017. We feel like we have managed to fit two years’ worth of music-making into one, and are so thrilled at the level of warmth and joy that we have received from our audiences. 2017 has seen us collaborate with some old friends such as Caroline Almonte, Pieter Wispelwey, Slava Grigoryan and Iain Grandage, as well as making some new friends: Arcadia Winds, Stephen Pigrim, Lou Bennett, Simon Cobcroft, Meta Weiss and José Carbo, to name a few!

To conclude our 2017 National Season, we are performing a program of trailblazers. Scarlatti, Beethoven and Bartók were all defining voices of the string quartet. Scarlatti’s Sonata à Quattro no 4 was written specifically for two violins, viola and cello, without harpsicord. This marking by the composer indicates that this is perhaps one of the earliest examples of string quartet writing. From its pure, opening fugue, through to an intensely chromatic and adventurous Grave and ending with a pair of delightfully buoyant dances,

this work is a rare and welcome foray into the Baroque era for the string quartet.

In his middle quartets, Beethoven makes great strides in advancing the string quartet form that Haydn popularised. This set of three quartets are known as the Razumovsky quartets, after the Russian count who supported the composer during this time. Beethoven had a string quartet of some of the best performers from Vienna at his disposal – the perfect vessel to push the boundaries of both form and virtuosity!

Hungarian composer Béla Bartók is arguably the leading voice of the string quartet in the 20th century. He became intensely interested in the folk music of his region and his first string quartet is an early glimpse into his lifelong quest to assimilate it into his art form.

Thank you so much for making 2017 such a fulfilling year for us, and we very much look forward to seeing you in our 2018 season.

Dale, Francesca, Stephen, Sharon

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Program

DatesScarlatti Sonata à Quattro no 4 in D minor

Bartók String Quartet no 1 op 7

INTERVAL

Beethoven String Quartet in F major op 59 no 1

National Season 2018 Subscribe Now asq.com.au

Sydney Tuesday 14 November 7pm City Recital Hall

Adelaide Wednesday 15 November 7pm Adelaide Town Hall

Perth Friday 17 November 7pm Government House Ballroom

Melbourne Monday 20 November 7pm Melbourne Recital Centre

Canberra Sunday 26 November 2pm Gandel Hall National Gallery of Australia

Brisbane Monday 27 November 7pm Conservatorium Theatre

AustralianString Quartet

For over 30 years, the Australian String Quartet (ASQ) has created unforgettable string quartet performances for national and international audiences. Dedicated to musical excellence with a distinctly Australian character, our purpose is to create chemistry and amplify intimacy through experiences that connect people with string quartet music.

From our home base at the University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, we reach out across Australia and the world to engage people with an outstanding program of performances, workshops, commissions and education projects. Our distinct sound is enhanced by a matched set of 18th century Guadagnini instruments, handcrafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743 and 1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy. These precious instruments are on loan for our exclusive use through the generosity of UKARIA.

Our 2018 program is rich with exciting opportunities. Alongside our National Season, we continue our successful flagship festivals in the Southern Grampians, Victoria and Western Australia’s Margaret River and pilot a new mini-festival

on the north-coast of New South Wales. Among other highlights, 2018 welcomes international tours to China and Europe; regional and metropolitan residencies; Australian recording initiatives; intimate Close Quarters gigs in unique spaces across the country; and the continuation of our successful morning series at UKARIA Cultural Centre.

As we continue our collaboration with some of the country’s finest artists, festivals and innovators, our 2018 program of activity includes: our association with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the Metropolis New Music Festival, our collaboration with the Port Fairy Spring Festival to celebrate the Songlines of this country through the inspirational ‘Quartet and Country’ project; and our partnership with Jumpgate VR on the development of our new ASQ digital platform.

Dale Barltrop plays a 1784 Guadagnini Violin, Turin.

Francesca Hiew plays a 1748–49 Guadagnini Violin, Piacenza.

Stephen King plays a 1783 Guadagnini Viola, Turin.

Sharon Grigoryan plays a c.1743 Guadagnini Violoncello, Piacenza, ‘Ngeringa’.

L–R: Dale Barltrop, Stephen King, Sharon Grigoryan, Francesca Hiew

Alessandro Scarlatti

While Haydn is often called the ‘father of the string quartet’, Alessandro Scarlatti can claim some ancestry on the strength of the four sonate à quattro, probably composed before 1715. That, at any rate, was the view of scholar Edward Dent as early as 1903. The sonatas had been known, in Britain, since 1740, but disguised as a set of concerti grossi. Augmented by two works of Alessandro’s brother, Francesco, and they were probably arranged by the English composer Charles Avison. No manuscript in Scarlatti’s hand survives, but Dent discovered manuscript parts, made by a copyist employed by the composer, in the collection of Fortunato Santini (1778-1861). Here the title pages list the instruments: two violins, violetta (viola) and cello senza cembalo – that is ‘without harpsichord’. From this, and from Santini’s full score (which describes the works as Quartetti) Dent took this as evidence that the sonatas were, as he put it in an article of the same name, ‘The Earliest String Quartets’.

Australian-based scholar Rosalind Halton, whose critical edition of the work is the one used here, has detailed the intricate history of these works, including the existence of a further set of parts, contemporary with the composer, where the bass part is designated ‘lute, harp or cello’. So - and this is borne out that in one of the manuscripts, the first three sonatas have figured bass, that is the numerical shorthand by which a continuo (keyboard, harp or lute) player could fill out the harmony as required – the term senza cembalo means ‘without harpsichord’, though not necessarily ‘without continuo’. The second Italian source, moreover, uses the term al tavolino (‘at the table’), which, as Halton puts it ‘might mean to performers that the music could be performed in a room where no harpsichord was present.’

While intimate in scale, the D minor sonata requires four highly proficient players. The opening Largo creates a tensile fugal web. In the Grave, rich, highly-chromatic harmony is expressed in lines that gently cross and overlap before concluding expectantly on the dominant, A. Chromaticism marks the final three movements: a shimmering Allegro in 3/4 where a characteristic semiquaver pattern is passed from instrument to instrument while touching on a variety of key centres; a jig-like Allegro in 12/8 whose simple theme briefly explores somewhat remote keys, and finally a short Minuet where elegant two-bar phrases, in widely different registers, call and respond.

© Gordon Kerry 2017

(1660-1725)

Sonata à Quattro no 4 in D minor (c.1715)

I LargoII GraveIII Allegro –IV Allegro –V Minuet

Guadagnini Quartet Project

With your support, the dream is about to become a reality as we have just $70,000 left to raise.

In the overall context of the project it sounds like a small amount, but without it we cannot secure the violin you heard tonight being played by Francesca Hiew.

Once complete, it will be the only matched quartet of Guadagnini instruments in the world.

Please consider playing a part in completing this extraordinary musical legacy.

To donate go to www.ukaria.com

For more information contact Alison Beare CEO UKARIA P (08) 8227 1277 E alison@ukaria.com

The members of the Australian String Quartet perform on a matched set of instruments handcrafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743 - 1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy.

The vision to secure these instruments for future generations of musicians and music lovers was initiated by Ulrike Klein in 2009. The complete set was purchased over a period of three years and since 2010, UKARIA, a not for profit arts foundation with DGR 1 status, has been raising the funds to acquire the instruments so it can hold them in perpetuity.

The complete set was purchased for $6.1M. Ulrike Klein and the Klein Family Foundation have contributed 50% and the remaining $3,000,030 has been raised through the generosity of Allan J Myers AC, Maria J Myers AC, The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation and many other private donors, particularly from South Australia.

Francesca Hiew, Australian String Quartet

Béla Bartók

By the end of the first decade of the last century, Bartók was routinely described as ‘the young radical’. Brought up on a diet of Viennese music from Haydn to Brahms, he had begun to explore the more recent music of Richard Strauss, Mussorgsky and Debussy. In the middle of that decade he reached the turning point of his career: he and fellow composers rediscovered the folk music of Hungary and neighbouring lands, and set about recording and writing down all that they could find to preserve it. These influences account for the distinctive sound of Bartók’s music: the melodies often use a limited number of notes with oddly-gapped intervals, and his rhythms use irregular groupings of beats (2+2+3 for example) that we hear in central European folk music.

Like Beethoven, Bartók came to use the quartet as a laboratory for stylistic experiments, and also like Beethoven, Bartók had a committed professional quartet at his disposal. The Waldbauer Quartet was a group of young players determined to support the music of their composer colleagues. They premiered this piece in 1910 at a concert of new Hungarian works and were immediately offered major concert tour in Western Europe as a result.

Bartók’s first string quartet was composed in 1908, when he had recently been appointed to the Budapest Academy of Music and when his music was increasingly exciting young audiences and annoying the critics. It was a happy time: he had just returned from a concert in Berlin where he couldn’t believe the quality of the orchestra, and he had just been married to his first wife, Marta Ziegler.

The three movements of this work are played without a break. It opens, like Beethoven’s opus 131, with a fugal exposition – which begins with great simplicity and restrained pathos, and gathers strength, complexity and emotional intensity as each instrument joins the texture. Bartók wryly called this his ‘funeral dirge’; any moments of major radiance are immediately undercut. The fugato texture eventually gives way to more impassioned lyric episodes that reflect the influence of both Balkan music and that of Debussy before returning to rarified counterpoint.

The triple time central movement announces its material in a series of richly harmonised duets, and gradually gains momentum, building towards the fast, dance-like finale. This, the most substantial movement of the work may express Bartók’s newly-found happiness; it certainly displays unshakeable confidence in his developing voice.

Gordon Kerry © 2007

(1881-1945)

String Quartet no 1 op 7 (1908)

I Lento – attacca:II Poco a poco accelerando all’Allegretto –III Introduzione – attacca: Allegro vivace

Beethoven’s op 59 were commissioned by the Russian ambassador, Count Razumovsky, and published in 1808, some years after the first quartets, op 18. The intervening time is a crucial one. Beethoven’s deafness, which he had begun to notice as early as 1798, was now becoming critical, and yet the years 1803-1806 were a time of astounding prolificacy, producing (among many others) works like the Appassionata Sonata, the Eroica Symphony, and the first version of Fidelio. In short, this time saw the birth of his ‘heroic’ style. Partly reliant on the new sounds of French Revolutionary ‘rescue’ opera, the motive of struggle and triumph, of good over evil, right over oppression, the spirit over fate, is paramount. Much of Beethoven’s instrumental music also reflects the influence of new sounds from the Parisian stage. In the Eroica Symphony, for instance, Beethoven’s dynamic amalgam of classical design, baroque counterpoint, and musical gestures from rescue opera enabled him to produce a symphonic work on an unprecedented scale.

Ludwig van Beethoven

As in the Eroica’s massive first movement, the scale and elaborative ingenuity of the first Razumovsky quartet seems endless. The central development section of the movement contains an elaborate double fugue; by contrast there are passages of simple forceful rhetoric.

Count Razumovsky, was a fine amateur cellist, schooled by Haydn in quartet playing, and funded the quartet that premiered many of Beethoven’s works. At Razumovsky’s request, Beethoven included Russian folk melodies in the first two (and made a fair facsimile in the third). Early audiences and performers were baffled, however. At a performance in 1812 in Russia, despite the Russian folk tune included at the Razumovsky’s request of the ambassador Count Razumovsky, the cellist of the quartet playing the piece ‘picked up his part and trampled it underfoot, declaring it to be an undignified joke’.

Actually the cello stars here: to it is entrusted the themes of both outer movements, but in doing so, a traditional source of harmonic support is rendered ambiguous. The cello also introduces the second, scherzando movement: here also the material is ambiguous, a mere rhythmic figure with which the music plays while searching for more substantial material. The adagio, marked mesto (‘sad’), begins with a long-breathed heartfelt melody with simple accompaniment which gives way to an ornate violin line accompanying a melody from the cello. The implications of this violin line are realised in the fantastic unaccompanied cadenza, that links into the final movement.

© Gordon Kerry 2017

(1770-1827)

String Quartet in F major op 59 no1 Razumovsky (1806)

I AllegroII Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzandoIII Adagio molto e mesto –IV Thème Russe: Allegro

Donors The Australian String Quartet would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank the following donors for their ongoing support along with those donors whose very important contributions either remain anonymous or are less than $1000.

The following donations reflect cumulative donations made from 2012 onwards and the Australian String Quartet is extremely grateful for all the support received from its donors.

The ASQ is registered as a tax deductible recipient. Donations can be made by phoning the ASQ on 1800 040 444 or online at asq.com.au/support

Principals ($50,001+)Mr Philip BaconNicholas Callinan AO & Libby CallinanClitheroe FoundationRichard Harvey AM & the late Tess HarveyLyndsey & Peter HawkinsHunt Family FoundationAndrew JohnstonKlein Family FoundationNorma LeslieMichael LishmanMacquarie Group FoundationDavid McKee AO & Pam McKeeAllan Myers AC & Maria Myers ACThe Ian Potter FoundationThyne Reid FoundationWright Burt FoundationAnonymous (1)Champions ($25,001 - $50,000)John & Libby ClaytonJanet & Michael HayesLang FoundationJoan LyonsPeter & Pamela McKeeMrs Diana McLaurinPM MenzBrenda Shanahan Charitable FoundationAnonymous (1)Guardians ($10,001 - $25,000)Don & Veronica AldridgeJohn & Mary BarlowKay Freedman & the late Ian WallaceGlenda & Greg LewinSkye McGregorMG Prichard & BE PanizzaLady Potter ACSusan M RenoufRobert Salzer FoundationNigel Steele ScottAnonymous (4)

Classic Partners ($5,001 - $10,000)Bernard & Jackie BarnwellBerg Family FoundationBrand Family FoundationMaurice & Tess CrottiPerri Cutten & Jo DaniellMargaret FlatmanJohn Funder & Val DiamondMr Hartley HigginsKimberley & Angus HoldenKeith Holt & Anne FullerNeil & June JensMr Robert KenrickRod & Elizabeth KingSonia LaidlawMarshall-Hall TrustMrs Frances MorrellPatricia H ReidAndrew SissonElizabeth SymeGary & Janet TilsleyLyn Williams AMAnonymous (3)Friends ($1,001 - $5,000)David & Liz AdamsPeter AllanMichael & Susan ArmitageProf Margaret ArstallJohn & Angela ArthurCharles & Catherine BagotPhilip BarronDianne Barron-DavisDavid & Caroline BartoloAlison BeareBernard & Sharon BoothThomas BreenTim & Lyndie CarracherJohn & Christine ChamberlainRic Chaney & Chris HairJohn & Libby ClappPeter Clemenger AO & Joan ClemengerCaroline & Robert ClementeDr Peter CliftonIan & Rosana Cochrane

Mary Rose & Tim CooneyColin & Robyn CowanDr Rodney G CrewtherMarie DalzielMr James Darling AM & Ms Lesley ForwoodGeoff & Anne DayRoss & Sue DillionAlan R Dodge AMMr Peter DorrianMichael J DrewJosephine DundonPamela Fiala in memory of JiriRichard FrolichRoss & Jen GalleryH & M GannonFleur GibbsJohn & Carole GraceGreat Southern Grammar SchoolMrs Helen GreensladeJean HadgesSusan & Daniel HainsNonie HallProfessor Keith HancockAnnette HarrisDr Penny Herbert in memory of Dunstan HerbertHilmer Family FoundationDr EH & Mrs A HirschAnita Poddar & Peter HoffmannJanet Holmes à Court ACJim & Freda IrenicBarbara JarryLynette & Gregory JaunayMr S JohnsBarry Jones AC & Rachel FaggetterBrian L Jones OAMKevin & Barbara KaneAndy & Jim KatsarosM & F Katz Family FoundationStephen & Kylie KingHon Diana Laidlaw AMDr David Leece PSM RFD EDThe Hon Christopher Legoe QC & Jenny LegoeKevin LongMegan Lowe

Grant LuxtonAnnette MaluishThe late Simon Marks IsaacsDr Robert MarinDavid & Anne MarshallDiane McCuskerElisabeth McDonaldHE & RJ McGlashanJanet McLachlanHelen & Phil MeddingsMrs Inese MedianikHugo & Brooke MichellSusan & Frank MorganDavid & Kerrell MorrisJo & Jock MuirVictor & Barbara MulderThe late Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBEJon Nicholson & Jennifer StaffordTerry & Pauline O’BrienPaul O’DonnellJohn O’HalloranTony & Margaret PagoneRosalind-Ruth M PhelpsJohn PhillipsAdam & Michele PlumridgeRobert PontifexM ResekChris & Fran RobertsJill RussellTrish & Richard Ryan AOBronwyn Ross-Jones & Bruce CooperJeanette Sandford-Morgan OAMVahe SarmazianDrs Paul Schneider & Margarita SilvaChris & the late Michael ScobieDavid ScownDiana Sher OAM & Jeffrey Sher QCSimply for Strings - BrisbaneAntony & Mary Louise SimpsonDick & Caroline SimpsonPamela & Tony SlaterSegue Financial ServicesDianne & the late Keith SmithMary & Ian SteeleHugh Taylor AC and Liz Taylor AM

Mrs AN Robinson & Dr MG TingayMr Eng Seng TohJenny & Mark TummelSue TweddellNicholas WardenTed & Robyn WatersJanet WorthAnnie & Philip YoungPamela YuleFay ZaikosAnonymous (15)

Australian String Quartet Richard Divall Australian Music FundDon & Veronica Aldridge Roslyn AllenBernard & Jackie BarnwellBrand Family FoundationNicholas Callinan AO & Libby CallinanJohn & Christine ChamberlainJohn & Libby ClaytonCaroline & Robert ClementePerri Cutten & Jo DaniellFleur GibbsTim & Irena HarringtonDr Penny Herbert in memory of Dunstan HerbertKeith Holt & Anne FullerRod & Elizabeth KingAngus LeitchGlenda & Greg LewinPM MenzJo & Jock MuirAllan Myers AC & Maria Myers ACTony & Margaret PagoneMG Prichard & BE PanizzaKarin PenttilaLady Potter ACSusan M RenoufDrs Paul Schneider & Margarita SilvaDiana Sher OAM & Jeffrey Sher QCRob & Jane SoutheyMary & Ian SteeleGary & Janet TilsleyAnnie & Philip YoungAnonymous (3)

We invite you to join us for our National Season 2018. From the surging momentum of Philip Glass to the contemplative closure of Shostakovich’s tenth string quartet, we are pleased to present a menu of works that will traverse the vast spectrum of human emotions.

Major works of the master composers, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Schubert and Shostakovich headline each program. Interspersed among these milestones are a selection of audacious contributions from leading figures of the contemporary musical world. Through the lens of these modern works, the masterworks of the past are viewed in a new light, restoring the potency of their uplifting spirit.

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Savour an ASQ Festival ExperienceJoin the Australian String Quartet and guest artists for two exquisite regional festivals in 2018. Set in intimate surrounds, experience the rejuvenating power of chamber music coupled with the stunning vistas of Margaret River, Western Australia and Dunkeld, in Victoria’s Southern Grampians.

Margaret River Weekend of Music Friday 6 – Sunday 8 April 2018

Dunkeld Festival of Music Friday 13 – Sunday 15 April 2018 Sunday 15 – Tuesday 17 April 2018

“A superb musical feast” Dunkeld Festival Guest

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Alexandra BurtNicholas Callinan AO (Chair)

Bruce CooperJanet Hayes

Marisa MandilePaul Murnane

Maria Myers ACSusan Renouf

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Australian String Quartet