The Dover Quartet

A recital by The Dover Quartet. The members of the Quartet include Joel Link & Bryan A. Lee, violins; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; and Camden Shaw, cello. All are Curtis Institute graduates, and spent the 2013/14 season in residence at the school. Their program:

Janacek: Quartet No.1 (“Kreutzer Sonata”)
“I was imagining a poor woman, tormented and run down, just like the one the Russian writer Tolstoy describes in his Kreutzer Sonata.” That’s Leos Janacek writing to a young friend, explaining the inspiration for this highly original, and highly moody, string quartet. The quartet received its premiere in Prague in 1924, when the composer was 70. The four movements are marked: Adagio – Con moto; Con moto; Con moto – Vivo – Andante; and Con moto – (Adagio) – Piu mosso.

Mendelssohn: Quartet No.4 in E minor, Op.44 No.2
This quartet was written in 1837, one of three in a collection that finally saw Mendelssohn emerging from the giant shadow of Beethoven, and forging his own personal style. Here, the newly-married composer his own sweet, harmonious voice. The quartet’s four movements are marked: Allegro assai appassionato; Scherzo: Allegro di molto; Andante; and Presto agitato.

Music Word of the Week: Double stopping
“In string playing, bowing two strings simultaneously to produce intervals or chords. In spite of the use of the word ‘stopping,’ one or both of the strings may be open.” (from the Oxford Dictionary of Music)