ASQ Beginnings

Beginnings No 3

14 – 27 November

Australian String Quartet National Season 2017

Adelaide Brisbane Canberra Melbourne Perth Sydney

Elder Conservatorium of Music

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Delivering over 130 years of music excellence The Elder Conservatorium of Music is Australia’s oldest and most distinguished tertiary music school. For more than a century, staff at the Conservatorium have educated and inspired generations of performers, composers, teachers and leaders in the arts.

Home to the Australian String Quartet - our quartet in residence, the Conservatorium hosts a vibrant community of talented musicians and provides a supportive environment that encourages creativity, independence and excellence in music.

Staff and students of the Conservatorium are committed to the artistic, educational and community experience of music, and they share their passion and expression with the public through regular performances and concerts.

Visit our website to learn more about the program of events, and comprehensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees available in a wide variety of specialisations.

music.adelaide.edu.au

Welcome Welcome to the Australian String Quartet’s third and final National Tour for 2017. We feel like we have managed to fit two years’ worth of music-making into one, and are so thrilled at the level of warmth and joy that we have received from our audiences. 2017 has seen us collaborate with some old friends such as Caroline Almonte, Pieter Wispelwey, Slava Grigoryan and Iain Grandage, as well as making some new friends: Arcadia Winds, Stephen Pigrim, Lou Bennett, Simon Cobcroft, Meta Weiss and José Carbo, to name a few!

To conclude our 2017 National Season, we are performing a program of trailblazers. Scarlatti, Beethoven and Bartók were all defining voices of the string quartet.

Scarlatti’s Sonata à Quattro no 4 was written specifically for two violins, viola and cello, without harpsicord. This marking by the composer indicates that this is perhaps one of the earliest examples of string quartet writing. From its pure, opening fugue, through to an intensely chromatic and adventurous Grave and ending with a pair of delightfully buoyant dances,

this work is a rare and welcome foray into the Baroque era for the string quartet.

In his middle quartets, Beethoven makes great strides in advancing the string quartet form that Haydn popularised. This set of three quartets are known as the Razumovsky quartets, after the Russian count who supported the composer during this time.

Beethoven had a string quartet of some of the best performers from Vienna at his disposal – the perfect vessel to push the boundaries of both form and virtuosity!

Hungarian composer Béla Bartók is arguably the leading voice of the string quartet in the 20th century.

He became intensely interested in the folk music of his region and his first string quartet is an early glimpse into his lifelong quest to assimilate it into his art form.

Thank you so much for making 2017 such a fulfilling year for us, and we very much look forward to seeing you in our 2018 season.

Dale, Francesca, Stephen, Sharon

proud sponsors of the australian string quartet

voyagerestate.com.au

Program Scarlatti Sonata à Quattro no 4 in D minor

INTERVAL

Dates

Beethoven String Quartet in F major op 59 no 1

Sydney Tuesday 14 November 7pm City Recital Hall

Bartók String Quartet no 1 op 7

Adelaide Wednesday 15 November 7pm Adelaide Town Hall Perth Friday 17 November 7pm Government House Ballroom Melbourne Monday 20 November 7pm Melbourne Recital Centre Canberra Sunday 26 November 2pm Gandel Hall National Gallery of Australia Brisbane Monday 27 November 7pm Conservatorium Theatre

National Season 2018 Subscribe Now asq.com.au

Australia String Qu

L–R: Dale Barltrop, Stephen King, Sharon Grigoryan, Francesca Hiew

an uartet

For over 30 years, the Australian String Quartet (ASQ) has created unforgettable string quartet performances for national and international audiences.

Dedicated to musical excellence with a distinctly Australian character, our purpose is to create chemistry and amplify intimacy through experiences that connect people with string quartet music.

From our home base at the University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, we reach out across Australia and the world to engage people with an outstanding program of performances, workshops, commissions and education projects. Our distinct sound is enhanced by a matched set of 18th century Guadagnini instruments, handcrafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743 and 1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy. These precious instruments are on loan for our exclusive use through the generosity of UKARIA. Our 2018 program is rich with exciting opportunities. Alongside our National Season, we continue our successful flagship festivals in the Southern Grampians, Victoria and Western Australia’s Margaret River and pilot a new mini-festival

on the north-coast of New South Wales. Among other highlights, 2018 welcomes international tours to China and Europe; regional and metropolitan residencies; Australian recording initiatives; intimate Close Quarters gigs in unique spaces across the country; and the continuation of our successful morning series at UKARIA Cultural Centre.

As we continue our collaboration with some of the country’s finest artists, festivals and innovators, our 2018 program of activity includes: our association with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the Metropolis New Music Festival, our collaboration with the Port Fairy Spring Festival to celebrate the Songlines of this country through the inspirational ‘Quartet and Country’ project; and our partnership with Jumpgate VR on the development of our new ASQ digital platform.

Dale Barltrop plays a 1784 Guadagnini Violin, Turin.

Francesca Hiew plays a 1748–49 Guadagnini Violin, Piacenza.

Stephen King plays a 1783 Guadagnini Viola, Turin.

Sharon Grigoryan plays a c.1743 Guadagnini Violoncello, Piacenza, ‘Ngeringa’.

Guadagnini Quartet Project

The members of the Australian String Quartet perform on a matched set of instruments handcrafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743 -1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy.

The vision to secure these instruments for future generations of musicians and music lovers was initiated

by Ulrike Klein in 2009. The complete set was purchased over a period of three years and since 2010, UKARIA, a not for profit arts foundation with DGR 1 status, has been raising the funds to acquire the instruments so it can hold them in perpetuity.

The complete set was purchased for $6.1M. Ulrike Klein and the Klein Family Foundation have contributed 50% and the remaining $3,000,030 has been raised through the generosity of Allan J Myers AC, Maria J Myers AC, The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation and many other private donors, particularly from South Australia.

With your support, the dream is about to become a reality as we have just $70,000 left to raise.

In the overall context of the project it sounds like a small amount, but without it we cannot secure the violin you heard tonight being played by Francesca Hiew.

Once complete, it will be the only matched quartet of Guadagnini instruments in the world.

Please consider playing a part in completing this extraordinary musical legacy.

To donate go to www.ukaria.com For more information contact Alison Beare CEO UKARIA P (08) 8227 1277 E alison@ukaria.com

Francesca Hiew, Australian String Quartet

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

Sonata à Quattro no 4 in D minor (c.1715) I Largo II Grave III Allegro – IV Allegro – V Minuet While Haydn is often called the ‘father of the string quartet’, Alessandro Scarlatti can claim some ancestry on the strength of the four sonate à quattro, probably composed before 1715. That, at any rate, was the view of scholar Edward Dent as early as 1903. The sonatas had been known, in Britain, since 1740, but disguised as a set of concerti grossi. Augmented by two works of Alessandro’s brother, Francesco, and they were probably arranged by the English composer Charles Avison. No manuscript in Scarlatti’s hand survives, but Dent discovered manuscript parts, made by a copyist employed by the composer, in the collection of Fortunato Santini (1778-1861).

Here the title pages list the instruments: two violins, violetta (viola) and cello senza cembalo – that is ‘without harpsichord’. From this, and from Santini’s full score (which describes the works as Quartetti) Dent took this as evidence that the sonatas were, as he put it in an article of the same name, ‘The Earliest String Quartets’.

Australian-based scholar Rosalind Halton, whose critical edition of the work is the one used here, has detailed the intricate history of these works, including the existence of a further set of parts, contemporary with the composer, where the bass part is designated ‘lute, harp or cello’. So - and this is borne out that in one of the manuscripts, the first three sonatas have figured bass, that is the numerical shorthand by which a continuo (keyboard, harp or lute) player could fill out the harmony as required – the term senza cembalo means ‘without harpsichord’, though not necessarily ‘without continuo’.

The second Italian source, moreover, uses the term al tavolino (‘at the table’), which, as Halton puts it ‘might mean to performers that the music could be performed in a room where no harpsichord was present.’

While intimate in scale, the D minor sonata requires four highly proficient players. The opening Largo creates a tensile fugal web. In the Grave, rich, highly-chromatic harmony is expressed in lines that gently cross and overlap before concluding expectantly on the dominant, A. Chromaticism marks the final three movements: a shimmering Allegro in 3/4 where a characteristic semiquaver pattern is passed from instrument to instrument while touching on a variety of key centres; a jig-like Allegro in 12/8 whose simple theme briefly explores somewhat remote keys, and finally a short Minuet where elegant two-bar phrases, in widely different registers, call and respond. © Gordon Kerry 2017

Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

String Quartet no 1 op 7 (1908) I Lento – attacca: II Poco a poco accelerando all’Allegretto – III Introduzione – attacca: Allegro vivace By the end of the first decade of the last century, Bartók was routinely described as ‘the young radical’.

Brought up on a diet of Viennese music from Haydn to Brahms, he had begun to explore the more recent music of Richard Strauss, Mussorgsky and Debussy. In the middle of that decade he reached the turning point of his career: he and fellow composers rediscovered the folk music of Hungary and neighbouring lands, and set about recording and writing down all that they could find to preserve it. These influences account for the distinctive sound of Bartók’s music: the melodies often use a limited number of notes with oddly-gapped intervals, and his rhythms use irregular groupings of beats (2+2+3 for example) that we hear in central European folk music.

Like Beethoven, Bartók came to use the quartet as a laboratory for stylistic experiments, and also like Beethoven, Bartók had a committed professional quartet at his disposal.

The Waldbauer Quartet was a group of young players determined to support the music of their composer colleagues. They premiered this piece in 1910 at a concert of new Hungarian works and were immediately offered major concert tour in Western Europe as a result.

Bartók’s first string quartet was composed in 1908, when he had recently been appointed to the Budapest Academy of Music and when his music was increasingly exciting young audiences and annoying the critics. It was a happy time: he had just returned from a concert in Berlin where he couldn’t believe the quality of the orchestra, and he had just been married to his first wife, Marta Ziegler.

The three movements of this work are played without a break. It opens, like Beethoven’s opus 131, with a fugal exposition – which begins with great simplicity and restrained pathos, and gathers strength, complexity and emotional intensity as each instrument joins the texture.

Bartók wryly called this his ‘funeral dirge’; any moments of major radiance are immediately undercut.

The fugato texture eventually gives way to more impassioned lyric episodes that reflect the influence of both Balkan music and that of Debussy before returning to rarified counterpoint.

The triple time central movement announces its material in a series of richly harmonised duets, and gradually gains momentum, building towards the fast, dance-like finale.

This, the most substantial movement of the work may express Bartók’s newly-found happiness; it certainly displays unshakeable confidence in his developing voice.

Gordon Kerry © 2007

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) String Quartet in F major op 59 no1 Razumovsky (1806) I Allegro II Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando III Adagio molto e mesto – IV Thème Russe: Allegro Beethoven’s op 59 were commissioned by the Russian ambassador, Count Razumovsky, and published in 1808, some years after the first quartets, op 18. The intervening time is a crucial one.

Beethoven’s deafness, which he had begun to notice as early as 1798, was now becoming critical, and yet the years 1803-1806 were a time of astounding prolificacy, producing (among many others) works like the Appassionata Sonata, the Eroica Symphony, and the first version of Fidelio. In short, this time saw the birth of his ‘heroic’ style. Partly reliant on the new sounds of French Revolutionary ‘rescue’ opera, the motive of struggle and triumph, of good over evil, right over oppression, the spirit over fate, is paramount.

Much of Beethoven’s instrumental music also reflects the influence of new sounds from the Parisian stage.

In the Eroica Symphony, for instance, Beethoven’s dynamic amalgam of classical design, baroque counterpoint, and musical gestures from rescue opera enabled him to produce a symphonic work on an unprecedented scale.

As in the Eroica’s massive first movement, the scale and elaborative ingenuity of the first Razumovsky quartet seems endless. The central development section of the movement contains an elaborate double fugue; by contrast there are passages of simple forceful rhetoric.

Count Razumovsky, was a fine amateur cellist, schooled by Haydn in quartet playing, and funded the quartet that premiered many of Beethoven’s works. At Razumovsky’s request, Beethoven included Russian folk melodies in the first two (and made a fair facsimile in the third). Early audiences and performers were baffled, however.

At a performance in 1812 in Russia, despite the Russian folk tune included at the Razumovsky’s request of the ambassador Count Razumovsky, the cellist of the quartet playing the piece ‘picked up his part and trampled it underfoot, declaring it to be an undignified joke’.

Actually the cello stars here: to it is entrusted the themes of both outer movements, but in doing so, a traditional source of harmonic support is rendered ambiguous.

The cello also introduces the second, scherzando movement: here also the material is ambiguous, a mere rhythmic figure with which the music plays while searching for more substantial material. The adagio, marked mesto (‘sad’), begins with a long-breathed heartfelt melody with simple accompaniment which gives way to an ornate violin line accompanying a melody from the cello. The implications of this violin line are realised in the fantastic unaccompanied cadenza, that links into the final movement. © Gordon Kerry 2017

The Australian String Quartet would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank the following donors for their ongoing support along with those donors whose very important contributions either remain anonymous or are less than $1000.

The following donations reflect cumulative donations made from 2012 onwards and the Australian String Quartet is extremely grateful for all the support received from its donors.

The ASQ is registered as a tax deductible recipient. Donations can be made by phoning the ASQ on 1800 040 444 or online at asq.com.au/support

Donors Principals ($50,001+) Mr Philip Bacon Nicholas Callinan AO & Libby Callinan Clitheroe Foundation Richard Harvey AM & the late Tess Harvey Lyndsey & Peter Hawkins Hunt Family Foundation Andrew Johnston Klein Family Foundation Norma Leslie Michael Lishman Macquarie Group Foundation David McKee AO & Pam McKee Allan Myers AC & Maria Myers AC The Ian Potter Foundation Thyne Reid Foundation Wright Burt Foundation Anonymous (1) Champions ($25,001 - $50,000) John & Libby Clayton Janet & Michael Hayes Lang Foundation Joan Lyons Peter & Pamela McKee Mrs Diana McLaurin PM Menz Brenda Shanahan Charitable Foundation Anonymous (1) Guardians ($10,001 - $25,000) Don & Veronica Aldridge John & Mary Barlow Kay Freedman & the late Ian Wallace Glenda & Greg Lewin Skye McGregor MG Prichard & BE Panizza Lady Potter AC Susan M Renouf Robert Salzer Foundation Nigel Steele Scott Anonymous (4)

Classic Partners ($5,001 - $10,000) Bernard & Jackie Barnwell Berg Family Foundation Brand Family Foundation Maurice & Tess Crotti Perri Cutten & Jo Daniell Margaret Flatman John Funder & Val Diamond Mr Hartley Higgins Kimberley & Angus Holden Keith Holt & Anne Fuller Neil & June Jens Mr Robert Kenrick Rod & Elizabeth King Sonia Laidlaw Marshall-Hall Trust Mrs Frances Morrell Patricia H Reid Andrew Sisson Elizabeth Syme Gary & Janet Tilsley Lyn Williams AM Anonymous (3) Friends ($1,001 - $5,000) David & Liz Adams Peter Allan Michael & Susan Armitage Prof Margaret Arstall John & Angela Arthur Charles & Catherine Bagot Philip Barron Dianne Barron-Davis David & Caroline Bartolo Alison Beare Bernard & Sharon Booth Thomas Breen Tim & Lyndie Carracher John & Christine Chamberlain Ric Chaney & Chris Hair John & Libby Clapp Peter Clemenger AO & Joan Clemenger Caroline & Robert Clemente Dr Peter Clifton Ian & Rosana Cochrane

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Mary Rose & Tim Cooney Colin & Robyn Cowan Dr Rodney G Crewther Marie Dalziel Mr James Darling AM & Ms Lesley Forwood Geoff & Anne Day Ross & Sue Dillion Alan R Dodge AM Mr Peter Dorrian Michael J Drew Josephine Dundon Pamela Fiala in memory of Jiri Richard Frolich Ross & Jen Gallery H & M Gannon Fleur Gibbs John & Carole Grace Great Southern Grammar School Mrs Helen Greenslade Jean Hadges Susan & Daniel Hains Nonie Hall Professor Keith Hancock Annette Harris Dr Penny Herbert in memory of Dunstan Herbert Hilmer Family Foundation Dr EH & Mrs A Hirsch Anita Poddar & Peter Hoffmann Janet Holmes à Court AC Jim & Freda Irenic Barbara Jarry Lynette & Gregory Jaunay Mr S Johns Barry Jones AC & Rachel Faggetter Brian L Jones OAM Kevin & Barbara Kane Andy & Jim Katsaros M & F Katz Family Foundation Stephen & Kylie King Hon Diana Laidlaw AM Dr David Leece PSM RFD ED The Hon Christopher Legoe QC & Jenny Legoe Kevin Long Megan Lowe

Grant Luxton Annette Maluish The late Simon Marks Isaacs Dr Robert Marin David & Anne Marshall Diane McCusker Elisabeth McDonald HE & RJ McGlashan Janet McLachlan Helen & Phil Meddings Mrs Inese Medianik Hugo & Brooke Michell Susan & Frank Morgan David & Kerrell Morris Jo & Jock Muir Victor & Barbara Mulder The late Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE Jon Nicholson & Jennifer Stafford Terry & Pauline O’Brien Paul O’Donnell John O’Halloran Tony & Margaret Pagone Rosalind-Ruth M Phelps John Phillips Adam & Michele Plumridge Robert Pontifex M Resek Chris & Fran Roberts Jill Russell Trish & Richard Ryan AO Bronwyn Ross-Jones & Bruce Cooper Jeanette Sandford-Morgan OAM Vahe Sarmazian Drs Paul Schneider & Margarita Silva Chris & the late Michael Scobie David Scown Diana Sher OAM & Jeffrey Sher QC Simply for Strings - Brisbane Antony & Mary Louise Simpson Dick & Caroline Simpson Pamela & Tony Slater Segue Financial Services Dianne & the late Keith Smith Mary & Ian Steele Hugh Taylor AC and Liz Taylor AM

Mrs AN Robinson & Dr MG Tingay Mr Eng Seng Toh Jenny & Mark Tummel Sue Tweddell Nicholas Warden Ted & Robyn Waters Janet Worth Annie & Philip Young Pamela Yule Fay Zaikos Anonymous (15) Australian String Quartet Richard Divall Australian Music Fund Don & Veronica Aldridge Roslyn Allen Bernard & Jackie Barnwell Brand Family Foundation Nicholas Callinan AO & Libby Callinan John & Christine Chamberlain John & Libby Clayton Caroline & Robert Clemente Perri Cutten & Jo Daniell Fleur Gibbs Tim & Irena Harrington Dr Penny Herbert in memory of Dunstan Herbert Keith Holt & Anne Fuller Rod & Elizabeth King Angus Leitch Glenda & Greg Lewin PM Menz Jo & Jock Muir Allan Myers AC & Maria Myers AC Tony & Margaret Pagone MG Prichard & BE Panizza Karin Penttila Lady Potter AC Susan M Renouf Drs Paul Schneider & Margarita Silva Diana Sher OAM & Jeffrey Sher QC Rob & Jane Southey Mary & Ian Steele Gary & Janet Tilsley Annie & Philip Young Anonymous (3)

Unleash the Mind N AT I O N A L S E A S O N 2 01 8

We invite you to join us for our National Season 2018. From the surging momentum of Philip Glass to the contemplative closure of Shostakovich’s tenth string quartet, we are pleased to present a menu of works that will traverse the vast spectrum of human emotions.

Major works of the master composers, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Schubert and Shostakovich headline each program. Interspersed among these milestones are a selection of audacious contributions from leading figures of the contemporary musical world. Through the lens of these modern works, the masterworks of the past are viewed in a new light, restoring the potency of their uplifting spirit.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY Enjoy a range of exclusive benefits as an ASQ subscriber. In addition to great savings, priority seating and free concert programs, subscribers receive two bonus tickets. Valued at over $150, these bonus tickets are our gift to you and we encourage you to share them with friends.

Get closer to the music with an ASQ National Season subscription and become a valued member of our extended family.

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Savour an ASQ Festival Experience Join the Australian String Quartet and guest artists for two exquisite regional festivals in 2018. Set in intimate surrounds, experience the rejuvenating power of chamber music coupled with the stunning vistas of Margaret River, Western Australia and Dunkeld, in Victoria’s Southern Grampians.

TO BOOK asq.com.au or call us on 1800 040444

“A superb musical feast” Dunkeld Festival Guest

Margaret River Weekend of Music Friday 6 – Sunday 8 April 2018 Dunkeld Festival of Music Friday 13 – Sunday 15 April 2018 Sunday 15 – Tuesday 17 April 2018

Official Partners Major Partner

Government Supporters

Major Patrons

Leader Sponsor

THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Cellist Sponsors

Violist Sponsors

PHILIP BACON

MRS JOAN LYONS & MRS DIDY McLAURIN

PETER & LYNDSEY HAWKINS

Instrument Partner

National Season Partners National Wine Sponsor

New South Wales & Victoria Tour Partner

Sydney Accommodation Sponsor

Queensland Co-presenting Partner

Luxury Menswear Partner

Canberra Co-presenting Partner

Adelaide Partner

Audi Solitaire

Other Partners

Photography by Jacqui Way. Design & art direction by Cul-de-sac Creative. Printed by Print Solutions SA.

ASQ Board Alexandra Burt Nicholas Callinan AO (Chair) Bruce Cooper Janet Hayes Marisa Mandile Paul Murnane Maria Myers AC Susan Renouf Jeanette Sandford-Morgan OAM Suzanne Stark Angelina Zucco – Chief Executive

Australian String Quartet

Quartet–in–Residence The University of Adelaide SA 5005 Australia T 1800 040 444 (Freecall) F +61 8 8313 4389 E asq@asq.com.au W asq.com.au AustralianStringQuartet @ASQuartet @australianstringquartet