Chiaroscuro Quartet - Early and Late

JS Bach The Art of Fugue (selections)
Beethoven String Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18
Schubert String Quartet No. 13 in A minor Rosamunde
Alina Ibragimova violin
Pablo Hernán Benedí violin
Emilie Hörnlund viola
Claire Thirion cello

For Beethoven, Bach was ‘the immortal God of harmony’, whose music had an indelible influence on his own. The celebrated Chiaroscuro Quartet, led by Alina Ibragimova, open with Bach’s enigmatic trove of four-part writing before leaping into Beethoven’s vivacious early Op. 18 No. 4 Quartet, with its fugal textures and unruly asymmetry.
Franz Schubert, provoked by Beethoven’s example, developed a new approach in his late works, integrating and transforming ideas from stage or song into quartets of immense dramatic power. In the Rosamunde, which quotes from the song ’Beautiful world, where are you?’, past conflict and present peace provide the spur for a sublimated musical narrative.