Sacconi Quartet at The Royal Concert Hall

About

Royal Concert Hall
Thursday 17 June 2021, 7pm
£20 full price | £16 concessions | £5 students
1 hour 25 minutes (no interval)

The Sacconi Quartet's concert opens with Haydn's virtuosic, assertive C major quartet Op.54 No.2 which is a masterpiece of invention. Juxtaposing themes in major and minor keys the mood constantly changes from exhilarating to brooding throughout.

Ravel composed his only String Quartet as a student of Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire in 1903. He unsuccessfully submitted it to the Prix de Rome and, unfortunately, was expelled from the Conservatoire for his radical musical ideas. The French public recognised his talents though and his music gained popularity. There is a freshness and spirit to the Quartet that makes it an appealing, attractive work to this day.

Schubert's 13th String Quartet, written when he was 27, was the only quartet to be performed and published in his lifetime. It acquired its nickname 'Rosamunde' posthumously referring to the song melody in the second movement which Schubert appropriated from his incidental music to the play 'Rosamunde'.

The award-winning Sacconi Quartet celebrate their 20th Anniversary in the 2021-22 season. The quartet enjoys a busy international career, performing regularly across the world, at Europe's major venues, in recordings and on radio broadcasts.