String Quartet's in Totnes

String Quartet Concert

Divertimento String Quartet would love to see you at a performances of their winter programme which they will be giving in Totnes, Kingsbridge, Lustleigh and Topsham.

Not only will they be featuring two familiar works of Haydn and Schubert but also an exciting 'new' quartet by the composer Ian Venables.

Ian Venables’ String Quartet Op 32 is a work of great emotional power and self-confidence. It is both gritty and uncompromising in tone and is firmly rooted in traditional tonality using dissonance and occasional atonality as a means of dramatic expression. The quartet is most accessible to listen to and if you are not already familiar with this fine composer click on this link http://ianvenables.com

Haydn Op 54 no 1 in G.
Haydn wrote the set of three Op 54 quartets in 1788 for the Hungarian violinist Johann Tost, who played in the Esterházy orchestra which Haydn directed. Haydn was good to his musicians, often writing pieces featuring them as compensation for good work, or as a way to lure talented musicians to the extreme isolation of the palace. Tost was also known in Vienna, and Mozart wrote his last two string quintets for him.

Schubert's String Quartet No. 14 in D minor is known as Death and the Maiden, and is one of the most well-known pieces of the chamber music repertoire. It was composed in 1824 after the composer had been suffering a serious illness and realized that he was dying. The quartet is given that name because the variations of the second movement are based on his song called Death and the Maiden.

For more information visit http://www.divertimento.uk.com/