MARC BOUCHKOV / ANTOINE TAMESTIT / TRULS MØRK...
At the Verbier Festival, Brahms is loved with a passion. In this second Rencontre Inédite, an assembly of outstanding soloists (Bouchkov, Repin, Preucil, Ridout, Tamestit, Teh Engstroem, Ferrández, Mørk) pays tribute to the German composer’s quintets, which rank among his most exhilarating and joyful works.
Programme
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)
String Quintet No. 1 in F major Op. 88
(Bouchkov, Preucil, Tamestit, Ridout, Ferrández)
Interval
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)
String Quintet No. 2 in G major Op. 111
(Bouchkov, Preucil, Tamestit, Teh Engstroem, Mørk)
Artist(s)
- Marc Bouchkov violin
- Alexandra Preucil violin
- Timothy Ridout viola
- Antoine Tamestit viola
- Blythe Teh Engstroem viola
- Pablo Ferrández cello
- Truls Mørk cello
Find out more
As with the symphony, Brahms waited until maturity before tackling the quintet. A first (and magnificent) attempt had been made, in the form of the piano quintet (originally conceived as a string quintet before being transformed into a sonata for two pianos), but it was not until 1882 that the String Quintet No. 1 came into being. Admittedly, Beethoven’s shadow looms less large here than in the quartet genre but Brahms, ever wary of his predecessors’ legacy, needed a personal means of making the formation his own. Instead of two cellos as in Schubert, his string quintet uses two violas, finding in the doubling of this middle-range instrument the ideal warmth for his music. Delighted with the work, Brahms told his publisher Simrock: ‘You have never before had such a beautiful work from me’. Like No. 1, the Quintet No. 2 of 1890 was written on holiday amid the grandiose landscapes of Bad Ischl. Through the exuberance of its inspiration and its blend of joy and nostalgia, the composer wished to bring his output to a definitive close, so strongly did he feel he had said everything in this magnificent work.
