Eliot Quartet / Music with a sense of humor - NOSPR

Haydn wrote the Quartet in C major op. 54 No. 2, both virtuosic and exceptionally deep in its artistry, with Johann Tost, a violinist of the Esterhazy orchestra he was leading, in mind. Much to his surprise, he later learnt that the musician had sold the work to the publisher Seiber, keeping all money for himself. What was more, the quartet was published with changes unauthorised by Haydn.  

In his Quartet No. 3, Brahms obviously references the Viennese classic, creating a work of classical subjectivity, with all-encompassing sense of humour, and a tiny bit of the romantic emotionality in the slow movement, reminding us clearly of that being a completely different era already. Krzysztof Meyer, in turn, freely admits that the composition Au-delà d’une absence is a quartet in the style of his teacher,  Dmitri Shostakovich. It is an attempt at continuing the Russian composer’s unfinished plan of writing 24 string quartets in all keys. An interesting and successful attempt, let us add.  

Adam Suprynowicz

Concert duration (intermission included): approximately 100 minutes