Repertoire

Karol Szymanowski: String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 37 (1917) 18′
Krzysztof Penderecki: String Quartet No. 3 “Leaves of an Unwritten Diary” (2008) 18′
Antonín Dvořák: String Quartet No. 9 in D minor, Op. 34 (1877) 34′

Artists

Apollon Musagete Quartet
Paweł Zalejski, violin
Bartosz Zachłod, violin
Piotr Szumieł, viola
Piotr Skweres, cello

Programme

The popularisation of Polish music for string quartet and performances of Dvořák’s quartets are two of the hallmarks of the Apollon Musagète Quartet. Karol Szymanowski brought musical modernity to newly independent Poland after the First World War. The exuberance of his Quartet No. 1, Op. 37 is truly astonishing, enveloping us with its almost orchestral textures and oriental touches, plus a clearly polytonal third movement. The stylistic synthesis that dominated the language of fellow Pole Krzysztof Penderecki in his last decades is embodied in Quartet No. 3, “Leaves from an Unwritten Diary”, clearly neo-Romantic in inspiration with folkloric reminiscences. Slavic airs also permeate Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 9, dedicated to Brahms. But melancholy and grief dominate a work that the Czech composer wrote when deeply affected by the recent death of two of his children.

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