The Dover Quartet shot to prominence after taking first prize at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The Chicago Tribune hails their “expert musicianship, razor-sharp ensemble, deep musical feeling, and palpable commitment to communication.” This ensemble is the first to be given the position of Quartet in Residence at the Curtis Institute.
The Dover Quartet’s concert at Duke includes two late string quartets by absolute masters of the form: Mozart’s lilting penultimate string quartet, and Beethoven’s deeply expressive Quartet No. 13, played here with its original final movement — the continually astounding Grosse Fuge — which Stravinsky said “will be contemporary forever.” Beethoven’s quartet, a recording of which wanders the stars aboard the Voyager I probe, inspired David Ludwig’s new work, Pale Blue Dot. Ludwig, the grandson of pianist Rudolf Serkin and the nephew of pianist Peter Serkin, writes music “supercharged with electrical energy and raw emotion” (Fanfare Magazine).
Mozart: String Quartet in B-flat Major, K. 589
David Ludwig: Pale Blue Dot
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, op. 130 / Grosse Fuge, op. 133