Under the southern sun, la dolce vita: a joyful concert, to leave with a smile on your face, sun in your heart, scented with the perfume of Italy and a hint of Spain.
Haydn, considered to be the founding father of the quartet, illuminates the musical world with his op. 20 "sun quartets", nuggets of inventiveness. In response to a critic who claimed that his music was not contrapuntal enough and who doubted that he was capable of writing fugues, he ended most of the quartets in this cycle with fugues, pianissimo, in sotto voce, with a surprise coda fortissimo, like a masterly and refined nose-thumbing, proof of his powerful humour.
At the same time, Boccherini in Italy also invented the string quartet, writing over a hundred of them! A virtuoso cellist, he composed as he breathed, and to better savour the pleasures, he composed pieces to play with his friends, wherever he went. He went to live in Spain, wrote quintets with guitar, including the famous fandango, and in a quintet with two cellos, had fun playing castanets! He was inspired by everything around him, and in his quintet, inspired by the nights of Madrid, he added effects that were quite innovative for the time. His music is often very cheerful and joyful, and leaves room for improvisation.
Mozart travelled to Italy and Spain at a very early age, touring the country. He was inspired by Italy for his operas, which he revolutionised. Here we are at the end of his life, he is in financial distress, and he will come across these so-called "Prussian" quartets written for the Prince of Prussia who was a good amateur cellist. This cycle returns to a childlike innocence and a simplicity of motives and forms. This quartet is one of his last works, full of light.
To finish, a quartet by Arriaga, a young Spanish musician and composer of genius who died too young, a contemporary of Beethoven. Here too, joy, light and sunshine to warm the soul and pay homage to the southern sun that makes hearts sing!
Luigi BOCCHERINI (1743-1805)
String quartet in D major op.8 n.1, G.165 15'
Joseph HAYDN (1732-1805)
String quartet in A major op.20 n.6 17'
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
String quartet in Bb major, K.589 "Prussian" 24'
Juan Crisóstomo de ARRIAGA (1806-1826)
String quartet n.2 in A major 23'
