Bergen Strykekvartett i Nykirken

Program:

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet nr. 67 i F-dur, Op. 77 nr. 2

Caroline Shaw: Entr'acte

Antonin Dvořák: String Quartet nr. 12 "American", Op, 96

Bergen Strykekvartett

Bergen Strykekvartett ble etablert i 2022 og består av Alexander Kagan, Lars Magnus Steinum, Liene Klava og Pierre Doumenge. Etter flere års samarbeid i Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester bestemte de seg for å stifte en strykekvartett sammen. De har alle stor lidenskap for kvartett-repertoaret og hadde et sterkt ønske om å utforske nytt materiale sammen. Med bakgrunn fra Norge, Frankrike og Øst-Europa ønsker de å representere sine respektive hjemlands kultur i tillegg til å spille kjent  repertoar innen sjangeren. Gjennom medlemmenes brede erfaring og nettverk ser de frem til å gjeste festivaler, både nasjonalt og internasjonalt, og med tiden stifte nye bekjentskaper med komponister og arrangører. Med sin hjemmebase i Bergen vil de presentere kjente norske komponister, i tillegg til å samarbeide med samtidens komponister gjennom bestillingsverk og innspillinger. Siden oppstarten har kvartetten allerede fremført flere frittstående konserter i Bergen og samarbeidet med lokale komponister som Ørjan Matre og Jostein Stalheim. Bergen Strykekvartett ble invitert til å spille på åpningen av Baroniet Rosendals 2024 sesong sammen med Leif Ove Andsnes der blant andre Hennes Majestet Dronning Sonja var publikum.

Gjennom tidene har det vært to andre strykekvartetter med samme navn, den siste fra 1954-58 under ledelse av daværende sjefdirigent for Harmonien, Carl von Garaguly.

The Bergen String Quartet

The Bergen String Quartet was founded in 2022 and consists of Alexander Kagan, Lars Magnus Steinum, Liene Klava and Pierre Doumenge. After working together for several years at the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra they decided to work together also as a string quartet. They are all passionate about the string quartet repertoire and are looking forward to explore new material together. With backgrounds from Norway, France and eastern-Europe they wish to represent their respective home countries culture in addition to playing the most famous repertoire of this genre. Through the members wide experience and network they are looking forward to hosting festivals at home in Norway and internationally and, in time, also make new acquaintances with composers and arrangers. With their home base in Bergen, Norway, they aim to perform works by famous Norwegian composers as well as working together with contemporary composers through commissions and recordings. Since they started the quartet have performed several concerts in Bergen and collaborated with local composers such as Ørjan Matre and Jostein Stalheim. The Bergen String Quartet was newly invited to play the opening of Baroniet Rosendals 2024 season together with Leif Ove Andsnes where Her Majesty Queen Sonja was in the audience.

Historically there have been two other string quartets with the same name, with the last from 1954-58 under leadership of the then present chief conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, Carl von Garaguly.

Programme Notes:

Haydn: 

The string quartets Op.77 are the last of Haydn's nearly seventy quartets. As so often in the past, Haydn originally intended to write a set of six quartets, but his health was so poor that he could not fully satisfy the commission from Prince Lobkowitz. Instead he published only two complete quartets as op. 77. Later he allowed an incomplete work consisting of two middle movements to appear as op.103, adding to the print these fateful words: “Gone is all my strength, old and weak am I”. Musically, however, these quartets are anything but weak: they represent the aged composer virtually at the zenith of his powers. Haydn even went so far as to call op. 77, no. 2, his “most beautiful string quartet”.

Shaw: 

Da komponisten Caroline Shaw (f. 1982) hørte Brentano-kvartetten spille Joseph Haydns strykekvartett, op. 77 nr. 2, ble hun så betatt av overgangen til trioen i menuetten at hun måtte skrive et verk bygget på dette ene øyeblikket. Resultatet ble Entr’acte, urfremført av Brentano-kvartetten ved Princeton University i 2011. ‘Jeg elsker hvordan noe musikk (som menuettene i op. 77) plutselig tar deg til andre siden av Alices speil, i en slags absurd, subtil, ‘technicolor’ overgang,’ har Shaw uttalt, og det er nettopp denne overgangen hun utforsker i sitt lekne, nysgjerrige og smakfulle verk.

Dvorak:

Dvořák composed his 12th string quartet in a matter of weeks while on holiday in Spillville, Iowa, in 1893. It received its premiere on New Year's Day the following year, in Boston, by the Kneisel Quartet. The most popular and famous of his quartets the music allegedly captures Dvorak's upbeat mood at the time. It's a quartet with a bright, rural feel most eloquently expressed in birdsong. The 1st movement feels like a beautiful, fresh, spring morning, full of melodic invention, with its gorgeous opening tremolos giving way to that beguiling first melody, which is passed around the quartet. This is the longest movement but barely a note is wasted and with its pizzicato in the background and more introspective second theme the first movement feels like musical perfection. The 2nd movement is deeply moving and possibly one of my favourites of any quartet ever written. It feels nostalgic but not melancholy and Dvorak’s incredibly catchy melodies are immense and deeply moving.

The third movement Scherzo features the song of the red-eyed vireo (not the scarlet tanager as previously thought), a bird that Dvořák heard and transcribed the song of. There's a bouyant, rustic theme, then the first violin plays the birdsong in high register. It's a definite feel-good movement with its light, airy textures. The finale, vivace, ma non troppo, conjures up visions of an open landscape, nature, new adventure and gives a feeling of great vibrancy. Such a fine, fun ending to this masterpiece of the genre.