SALZBURG STRING QUARTET FESTIVAL

7–12 May 2024 (mk 262)

Price: from £2,810

Speaker: Dr Katy Hamilton

For full details, please contact us or visit www.martinrandall.com

Salzburg is probably the best possible location for a music festival (and indeed we are not the first to have realised that). Crammed into a cleft in the hills scoured by the fast-flowing River Salzach, the former seat of prince-archbishops is as dense with delights as any small town in Central Europe. A congeries of courts, alleys, passages, streets and squares threads through ancient structures of stone and stucco and enthrals both the visitor and the resident with picturesque vistas, magnificent architecture and fine craftsmanship.

Perhaps more than any city of comparable size, there is an array of fine hotels from which to choose. And, constrained by the cliffs that mark the landward edge of the old city, it is small: all the hotels and concert venues, as well as the museums and the architectural monuments, are within easy walking distance of each other.

This new festival – unlikely to be repeated for a number of years – brings together eight absolutely first-rate string quartet ensembles, ranging from the young but hugely talented to world-famous masters of the genre: the Casals, Chiaroscuro, Cremona, Marmen, Navarra, Schumann, Simply and Wihan all appear.

The range of quartets performed is balanced carefully between the greatest core composers (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert) and a range of styles and nationalities (Verdi, Ravel, Dvořák) – with a judicious peppering of additional performers (Mendelssohn Octet, Schubert Quintet, Brahms Sextet No.1).

Talks on each concert are given by musicologist Dr Katy Hamilton, or the musicians themselves.

With 12 concerts and multiple opportunities to meet the musicians, this will be a Martin Randall Festival like no other – an intense and convivial musical experience, enlightening and thrilling.