Piano Quartet

Soup with piano quartet

Three string musicians from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra are joined by pianist Terés Löf in Gabriel Fauré's youthfully fresh and outgoing first piano quartet. It is one of his most beloved major chamber music works, and the French Academy of Fine Arts also awarded the quartet with its prestigious Prix Chartier.Fauré's music ranges from light salon music to musical romanticism on the brink of modernism. Fauré made a significant impact on the French music scene, serving as an organist at the Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris, conductor at the Madeleine Church, and for many years as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his students were Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger.Claudia Bonfiglioli is the section leader in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra's second violin section, violist Catarina Skoog Aquilonius celebrates her 20th anniversary with the orchestra this year, and Marie Macleod is the principal cellist. Terés Löf is one of the country's most accomplished pianists . She has guested Konserthuset on several occasions and in 2016 performed the Swedish premiere of Amy Beach's Piano Concerto with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.***Menu: Pumpkin soup with coconut milk and roasted, salted seeds. The soup is served with sourdough bread, crispbread, butter, mineral water/light beer, coffee/tea, and a piece of chocolate. Wine and beer available for purchase for those who wish.All soups are lactose- and gluten-free. Please inform us of any special dietary requirements when booking.

Soup with piano quartet

Two piano quartets – one modern and one romantic classic. They are, of course, very different in style, but the intensity and melancholic expressions unite these two works. The music is performed by three string musicians from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra together with pianist Anna Christensson.British composer Charlotte Bray (born 1982) composed the piano quartet Replay in 2011. In ten minutes, she creates a world that begins in a sort of lament, then escalates in intensity before the music thins out and slowly dies away, as if from exhaustion.Johannes Brahms' third piano quartet in C minor is one of the finest works in the genre – a masterpiece that many consider to be his most personal and autobiographical music. Embedded in the notes are both his anguish for his sick friend Robert Schumann and his forbidden feelings for Schumann's wife, Clara Schumann. Brahms believed that the both powerful and contemplative music should be illustrated with a photo of himself and a pistol aimed at his head.***Menu: Asparagus soup with sunflower seeds. The soup is served with sourdough bread, crispbread, butter, mineral water/light beer, coffee/tea, and a chocolate piece. Wine and beer available for purchase for those who wish.All soups are lactose- and gluten-free. Please inform us of any dietary requirements when booking.

Chamber Concert: Piano Quartet

There is intriguing soul food to be discovered in this chamber concert: The symphonist Mahler is hardly connected with small ensembles. However, he loved »Hausmusik« and wrote the inventive and passionate quartet movement in A minor in 1876 during his time as a student in Vienna, music that even back then »stirred up great sympathy«. Later, in 1973, the sketched opening of a scherzo surfaced, which Mahler had apparently intended to be the second movement – and Alfred Schnittke adopted these bars as the foundation for his exciting Piano Quartet from 1988: He developed a process with the aspiration to »remember something that never came to be«. But the endeavour to track Mahler's tonal language fails repeatedly and the composition finally culminates in the original quotation from the fragment: »It appears and pauses« – and so remains further unfinished. Brahms wrote his Piano Quartet op. 25 during a difficult phase of his life, full of self-doubt. It remains a speculation whether he thought of his beloved Clara Schumann with every bar – who played the piano part at the premiere in 1861 and was »terribly nervous« because the work »lay so heavily on her heart«. It captivates with its intense motivic relationships and features a Hungarian-flavoured rondo as a sweeping finale. The first string quartet by Josef Suk is likewise deeply emotional: it was composed in 1896 and a contemporary raved that it was »the best« he knew of Suk. The beguiling work does indeed also revel in Bohemian folklore, but the sometimes very introspective view and the fluctuating moods make it sound like a confessional psychogram – after all, Josef Suk saw himself as an artist who wanted to express with music »what the soul was full of«.

Capybara Piano Quartet: Mendelssohn and Brahms

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Tim Burton's favourite composer / Metropolis Piano Quartet

It promises to be a remarkable expedition in directions not obvious for chamber music. Spanish music enjoyed a heyday of national style at the turn of the 20th century. We are familiar in Poland with works by de Falla, Albéniz or Granados from this repertoire. Turina, on the other hand, is mainly associated with guitar music lovers. In the mellifluous Piano Quartet op. 67, he combines catchy Spanish themes with classical form, characteristic simplicity and serenity. The music of the eminent Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks is characterised by a meditative tone famous in this part of Europe. His Piano Quartet will unite lovers of classical harmonies with those seeking more contemporary forms of expression. Danny Elfman's quartet, meanwhile, will add to this concert the eclectic spirit of Hollywood, where the composer, acclaimed for his soundtracks for films by Tim Burton (Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland), Gus Van Sant (Milk) or the Simpsons series, is well known. Adam Suprynowicz Concert duration: approximately 100 minutes

Barbican Quartet

The Barbican Quartet was founded in 2015, and is taught and supported by string quartet stars like Günter Picheler and the Quatuor Ébène. The four musicians present works by Alban Berg and Beethoven as part of the »Teatime Classics« series. 2022 was a memorable year for the Barbican Quartet: they won first prize and other special prizes at the ARD Music Competition, as well as a third prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. The ensemble had only just found a new second violinist, and thus a new sound and style of ensemble playing, in February 2022. The Barbican Quartet has appeared at many international festivals, and has been broadcast on the radio several times. In the 2022/23 season, they produced and released their first CD. An extensive tour will take them to different parts of Europe, to Canada and the USA.

Critics’ Quartet

Moderated by Olaf Wilhelmer, four critics will once again discuss a central work this year: in 2024 it will be Aaron Copland’s 3rd Symphony.The “Critics’ Quartet” takes place instead of the usual introduction to the concert with the Kansas City Symphony conducted by Matthias Pintscher.

Belcea Quartet

Takács Quartet

Beethoven's quartets dedicated to the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Razumovsky, are some of his most famous. The first of the three is majestic in its scope, filled with both carefree melodies and tension-filled contrasts.When it comes to string quartets, Joseph Haydn was a role model and important source of inspiration for Beethoven, and there's a musical thread from Haydn's C major quartet to Beethoven's Razumovsky quartets.The ensemble tackling this music, the Takács Quartet, was founded in Hungary but is now based in the USA. They are known for their brilliant playing and innovative programs. They often collaborate with writers and artists, and at several concerts, the actress Meryl Streep has participated.The Takács Quartet also commissions music. One such initiative is the beautifully flowing Flow by American composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama, who has looked out towards space and drawn inspiration from the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe.

Belcea Quartet

Beethoven's five late string quartets are a listening adventure like no other. One of the most performed and beloved is No. 14, with opus number 131. Here, it seems as if Beethoven is searching for the freedom of thought and soul through his music. Perhaps that's also why this music speaks so strongly to us, with its warmth, imagination, and intensity, transcending all historical barriers. And the slow, dense first movement is among the most beautiful ever created for a string quartet.The Belcea Quartet is one of the world's most prominent string quartets. The quartet has performed at Konserthuset Stockholm on several occasions previously, including in a series of concerts featuring all of Beethoven's string quartets.Here, instead, the quartet combines Beethoven with Arnold Schönberg, whom many associate with twelve-tone music. But Schönberg was a great romantic, and the string quartet we hear here, the first of four numbered ones, was his first truly major composition. It is music brimming with wild energy and swelling late romanticism, composed in 1905 in Vienna, a city that had a significant influence on Schönberg with its vibrant art scene and Freud's psychological investigations.