In a new light

A quartet revelling in the peculiarities of Beethoven

LIKE MOTHS TO A FLAME: British audiences returned to venues in their droves after lockdown, including this candlelit concert by the Kaleidoscope Orchestra at Liverpool’s Grand Central Hall on 24 September. ‘After the last 18 months of having no audiences t o play to, the last few weeks have been a shock to the system, but we are honestly just so glad to get back out here,’ said violist and orchestra manager Rhiannon James. ‘Live performance is what we are about and we got back to it in a big way now that restrictions have eased.’

Photo: Gemma Parker Photography

PREMIERE of the MONTH

COMPOSER Jörg Widmann

WORK String Quartet no.8 (‘Study on Beethoven III’) and no.10 ‘Cavatina’ (‘Study on Beethoven V’)

ARTISTS Juilliard Quartet

DATE 17 November 2021

PLACE Leo Rich Theater, Tucson, AZ, US bit.ly/2X1l4NG

‘No.8 and no.10 both deal with the quartet of quartets: Beethoven’s op.130,’ says German composer Jörg Widmann of the two works to be premiered by the Juilliard Quartet for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Filled with a fascination for the oddities of Beethoven, Widmann explains: ‘It would bore me to death to look back sentimentally and do nothing new with it.’ Instead, it was important for the composer that the pieces take on their own character. The Juilliard’s violist Roger Tapping says it is not just Beethoven’s quirks that the works reveal, but also Widmann’s: ‘Jörg’s music is full of quirkiness and reflects his different sides as a vivid performer with sincere depth.’ ‘No.8 and no.10 both deal with the quartet of quartets: Beethoven’s op.130,’ says German composer Jörg Widmann of the two works to be premiered by the Juilliard Quartet for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Filled with a fascination for the oddities of Beethoven, Widmann explains: ‘It would bore me to death to look back sentimentally and do nothing new with it.’ Instead, it was important for the composer that the pieces take on their own character. The Juilliard’s violist Roger Tapping says it is not just Beethoven’s quirks that the works reveal, but also Widmann’s: ‘Jörg’s music is full of quirkiness and reflects his different sides as a vivid performer with sincere depth.’

Jörg Widmann

Juilliard Quartet

JUILLIARD PHOTO LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO. WIDMANN PHOTO MARCO BORGGREVE

Widmann says he ‘had to do something about. It’s so strange, like someone who can’t dance!’ Op.130’s Presto forms the basis of Widmann’s third movement. He transforms Beethoven’s pianissimos into wild fortissimos. ‘I’ve hardly ever written such an intense movement,’ he says. Juilliard second violinist Ronald Copes recalls the quartet’s delight in discovering anecdotes from op.130 scattered throughout Widmann’s work, although admitting they haven’t ‘come close to discovering all of them!’

Quartet no.10, described as ‘an epilogue of an epilogue’, is dedicated to op.130’s Cavatina. ‘It is one of Beethoven’s most touching movements. My quartet fantasises about it,’ Widmann explains. Captivated by the Cavatina’s peculiar indication beklemmt (‘oppressed’), he says, ‘It’s like a human voice trembling.’ The movement’s stratospheric textures are also dedicated to the Juilliard’s ‘lyrical sound’. Of the movement, Widmann says: ‘I hope it flies away to a utopia not yet achieved.’