Beethoven: Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2
Beethoven: Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3
Beethoven: Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74 ("The Harp")
Beethoven: Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95 ("Serioso")
Beethoven: Quartet in F Major, Op. 135
I can certainly understand one possible interperation of "Intensive" in Cleveland Institute of Music's Intensive String Quartet Seminar. We have conclusively determined that 4 hours of Beethoven quartet exceeds my limits.
I walked into Mixon hall not knowing what I was getting myself into; while all of the quartets were well played none of them particularly caught my ear; perhaps my being in a bit of a funk didn't help. In any event, I'm still putting Saturday Evening's Orchestra concert on the pedistal to which I will compare all others for the time being.
Highlights of the program, though, included an introduction at the beginning of the evening providing context, from Beethoven's own words, for the point in his life at which the first three pieces were composed, as well as introductions provided before each piece by a member of the quartet... it was interesting to hear, in the students' words the highlights and motifs from each piece, particularly those given by Mr. Kantor and Mr. Gonzalez
While I understand the idea behind programming this as a single concert and it was enjoyable, I think it would have been better received if it had been programmed as two separate concerts or with a much earlier start time. I struggled with deciding should I stay or should I go up until the members of the last group took the stage -- others were not as patient. That being said, I think this is the only concert I've attended where the audience size significantly increased as the program progressed.
Lincoln
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