Quite a lot has happened since the Doric String Quartet last appeared in Hamburg in March 2023, filling the Laeiszhalle Recital Hall with its »radiant beauty of sound« (The Daily Telegraph). The following year, the ensemble entered a new chapter in its almost three-decade history by welcoming no fewer than two new members. In this new line-up, the Doric String Quartet now makes its debut in the Elbphilharmonie Recital Hall with a programme full of intriguing contrasts.
The evening opens with Haydn’s Quartet, Op. 74/3. As the final work in a set of six quartets, it is perhaps unsurprising that Haydn filled it with an especially rich array of surprising and forward-looking ideas. In direct contrast to this highly concentrated music, Robert Schumann’s Quartet in F major unfolds with all the more warmth and lyricism. It forms a rapturous counterpoint to Haydn’s seriousness and, with its whirling finale, sends the audience into the interval on an exuberant note.
From German musical landscapes, the programme then crosses over to England – the home turf of the Doric String Quartet – with two Fantasias by Henry Purcell, full of the composer’s unmistakable sensitivity and emotional depth. This world of baroque sensuality echoes on in Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet No. 3, which brings the evening to a visionary conclusion.
PERFORMERS
Doric String Quartet string quartet
Maia Cabeza violin
Ying Xue violin
Emma Wernig viola
John Myerscough violoncello
PROGRAM
Joseph Haydn
String Quartet in G minor, Op. 74/3 »Rider«
Robert Schumann
String Quartet in F major, Op. 41/2
- Interval -
Henry Purcell
Fantasia No. 9 à 4 in A minor, Z 740
Henry Purcell
Fantasia No. 10 à 4 in E minor, Z 741
Benjamin Britten
String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94
