ConcertPulse
Goldmund Quartett
Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal (Hamburg)
Off to a flying start: in the 2019/2020 season, the European Concert Hall Organisation sent them through the great concert halls of the continent as »Rising Stars«. Now, the musicians of the Goldmund Quartet return to the Elbphilharmonie as a globally successful ensemble. In a varied programme, they combine repertoire classics with special insider tips. The musicians, whose shared history started as early as their school days, take a look into the musical present with a composition by Sophia Jani. On behalf of the quartet, the young composer has created a lyrical and meditative work, which also appeared on the highly acclaimed »Prisma« record in April 2023. The romance of the British late romanticist Gerald Finzi might also be new to many – a melodious movement, which also loses none of its very English and soulful expression in its adaptation for string quartet. Joseph Haydn is fondly described as the »father of the string quartet«. In just under 70 compositions, he established this supreme discipline of chamber music. The Goldmund Quartet devotes itself to his final completed string quartet, which puts forward a great urge to experiment, untamed energy and sophisticated thematic work. Even if there are still individual movements of a later quartet, this spirited F major quartet can certainly be selected as the grand finale of Haydn’s decades-long engagement with the genre. The musicians have also brought along Schumann’s final string quartet – admittedly, the Romantic composer only put a bit of it on paper. His unique cycle with three quartets is evidence of his great fascination and in-depth study of the works of his predecessors. Disguised as a scherzo, the second movement of the usually more lively A major quartet is one of the most beautiful slow movements that Schumann wrote.