Quatuor Agate
Quatuor Agate at The Stoller Hall, Manchester
About the show
Programme
SCHUBERT String Quartet No.13 ‘Rosamunde’
KORNGOLD String Quartet No.2 in E flat Major Op.26
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No.15 in A Minor Op.132
Returning to the MCCS concert series following their concert at Stoller Hall in November 2023 and now in their tenth anniversary season as a quartet, Quatuor Agate perform a series of lyrical and melodic works.
Schubert’s String Quartet No.13 takes its nickname from the composer’s use of tunes from his ‘Rosamunde’ incidental music, which have become some of Schubert’s most recognised and regularly performed orchestral works.
The programme’s second work, however, comes from a composer much more famous for his Hollywood Golden-age scores. Eric Korngold’s String Quartet No.2 shows how his distinctive sound translates to just four instruments, in a work filled with joyful moments and fluttering flourishes.
The final piece of the programme, Beethoven’s String Quartet No.15 in A Minor, was a work ahead of its time. Written towards the end of the composer’s life, this and his other late string quartets were greeted with both excitement and confusion by critics, but are now regarded as some of the greatest string quartet music ever written.