Quatuor Danel to perform Beethoven in Zankel appearance
Quatuor Danel quartet
Skidmore this spring continues its complete Beethoven String Quartet Cycle with a performance by Quatuor Danel at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27.
As ELM Chamber Music artists at Skidmore, the quartet is the fifth group to participate in the Beethoven project, which features six internationally renowned guest artists performing the full cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets over the course of two years.
Saturday’s program includes the Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1; Quartet in F Major, Op. 135; and Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3, “Hero.” Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and the Skidmore community, and free for students and children.
The Quatuor Danel was founded in 1991 and has been at the forefront of the international music scene ever since, with important concert performances worldwide and a row of groundbreaking CD recordings winning many important international awards.
The quartet is famous for its bold, concentrated interpretations of the string quartet cycles of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Shostakovich, and Weinberg. The group’s lively and fresh vision on the traditional quartet repertoire has earned praise from public and press. The other part of their force lies in the collaboration with major contemporary composers such as Rihm, Lachenmann, Gubaidulina, Dusapin Jörg Widmann and Bruno Mantovani.
Russian composers have a special place in the Quatuor Danel’s repertoire. The group has championed all string quartets by Shostakovich and recorded the complete cycle for Fuga Libera in 2005. This box set was recently re-issued and still counts as one of the benchmark interpretations of Shostakovich’s quartets. Over the past three years the Quatuor Danel has recorded the almost unknown quartet oeuvre of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, the neglected contemporary of Shostakovich, for CD-label CPO. The quartet will continue to break a lance for this breathtakingly beautiful repertoire coming seasons.
At the very heart of the Quatuor Danel’s work is ambassadorship for young musicians in general and string quartets in particular. Teaching and master classes are a fundamental part of the quartet’s activities. The quartet has been artist-in-residence at the University of Manchester since 2005, working closely with the students, but also with musicologists Barry Cooper and David Fanning.
