September 7, 2024
Baldwin Auditorium
Presented by Duke Arts Presents
Chamber Arts Series
Indeed a fine ensemble, whose playing is admirable in its tautness of focus and refinement of detail.
Gramophone
The Tesla Quartet is acclaimed for their superb capacity to find the inner heart of everything they play, regardless of era, style, or technical demand” (The International Review of Music). The ensemble brings a program of Schubert, Webern and Mozart.
One of the hallmarks of Schubert’s music is his ability to slip almost imperceptibly between major and minor tonalities. His final string quartet, No. 15 in G major, inhabits a multitude of harmonic worlds almost simultaneously, and the breadth of the work creates a space to take in the vast expanse of the composer’s imagination. While the quartet has many of the melodically mellifluous qualities of his other works, it also features outbursts of starkly contrasting harmonies that border on disorienting, begging the question, is the work really in G major, or G minor?
Mozart’s G major Quartet, K. 387, by contrast, is unabashedly sunny and playful. One of a set of six quartets dedicated to Haydn, the work’s themes are quirky and effervescent and feel designed to elicit giggles from the listener. More brooding is the single-movement Langsamer Satz of Anton Webern that opens the program. This darkly lyrical work is one of only a few lush Romantic pieces by the composer better know for his terse serialism of the Second Viennese School.
Webern: Langsamer Satz
Mozart: String Quartet No. 14 in G major, K. 387
Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D. 887
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Baldwin Auditorium
1336 Campus Drive
Durham, NC 27705
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Named for the weeping willow, Salix Piano Trio shapes Mozart, Brahms, Higdon, Bridge, and Shostakovich into a vivid arc where elegance and intensity meet “fiercely intelligent playing” (The Washington Post).
A standout from Sweden’s chamber scene, Camerata Nordica’s conductor-less octet dives into Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich, performing from within the ensemble for a thrilling sense of collaboration and energy.
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Two-time GRAMMY winners, Pacifica Quartet pairs Beethoven’s expansive Op. 130 with George Walker and Gabriela Lena Frank, placing bold contemporary voices alongside one of the repertoire’s most searching masterworks.
Inspired by M.C. Escher’s interplay of forms, the Escher Quartet joins pianist David Fung for Mozart, Schumann, and Korngold, music rich in dialogue, shifting between intimacy and concerto-like drama.
A self-conducted ensemble redefining classical performance, Sphinx Virtuosi blends Stravinsky, Ravel, and Roberto Sierra with new works in a program shaped by the sounds and stories of America.
Hailing from France, Quatuor Van Kuijk are BBC New Generation Artists and winners of the Wigmore Hall Competition. Their Duke Arts debut features Mozart’s “Dissonance” alongside Bartók and Brahms.
When Anthony McGill, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, joins pianist and composer Conrad Tao, expect a program of striking range where lyricism and virtuosity meet contemporary sensibility.
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