The UC Academic Quartet will perform on Thursday, January 21. “Playing again is a renaissance for us,” says cellist Alejandro Tagle. Photo: IMUC.
The resident ensemble of the UC Institute of Music will contrast the famous quartet on Thursday, January 21 The lark by Haydn with an early Beethoven quartet, at the close of the Summer Cycle. The concert will be broadcast at 7:00 p.m., live and direct, through Musica.uc.cl.
Made up of Frida Ansaldi and Gonzalo Beltrán, on violins, Penelope Knuth on viola and Alejandro Tagle on cello, the UC Academic Quartet is chosen for the closing day of the UC Institute of Music Summer Cycle.
The resident group of the IMUC will perform in the East Campus, and with all the health protocols, a program that has a classic heart and a romantic breath. The concert will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 21 and will be broadcast, live streaming, on Musica.uc.cl, YouTube and social networks.
The two works to be performed by the IMUC professors were written only a decade apart, by two composers who deeply admired each other, teacher and disciple. By Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), they will play the String Quartet The lark, Op. 64 N ° 5, and by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), the Quartet for Strings in C Minor Op. 18 N ° 4. The first was written in 1790 and the second, around 1800.
Alejandro Tagle, cellist of the UC Academic Quartet offers us a guided audition.
-What was your motivation in deciding to contrast an early Beethoven quartet and a mature Haydn quartet? Does it have to do with a tribute in the Beethoven Year, which was celebrated in 2020?
“We had the Beethoven quartet programmed for the celebration of the 250 years of his birth; due to the pandemic we could not touch it. But beyond that, Haydn was Beethoven’s teacher in Vienna, and they admired each other; This powerful link lends itself to uniting both works. The loving atmosphere surrounding the quartet The lark de Haydn can be related to the comprehensive and necessary reception of the people who have suffered this pandemic. The energetic vitality of Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 18 N ° 4 is a call to be reborn, to leave fear behind and raise our heads towards tomorrow that could be hopeful ”.
-How do these two quatrains written a decade apart?
“A mature Haydn builds a beautiful quartet, full of classical lyricism and mastery of the genre. His student, with a wonderful talent, presents us with an energetic and disruptive quartet, full of contrasts and vitality, glimpsing the romanticism that comes with him to settle in music.
-In the repertoire for string quartet, what place does Haydn occupy? Is it imaginable what Beethoven did in his last quartets without all that Haydn had done for this group?
Haydn is recognized as the ‘father’ of the string quartet. With a very extensive work of 68 quartets Haydn not only develops the genre but also takes it to a place of excellence. On the other hand, Beethoven’s quartets enjoy a recognition and relevance that makes them essential in the repertoire ”.
-I understand that when he composed the opus 64 quartets, Haydn was at the end of his almost 30 years in the service of Nicolas Esterházy’s court, just before a more independent work stage. Do you have an impact on the Quartet The lark what was i living?
“Haydn had little chance of traveling to Vienna, because he accompanied Nicolás Esterházy to Esterháza, far from the city where he had his close friends. It is possible that this situation made him self-absorbed, which could influence the spirit he embodies in this quartet, with a certain melancholy.
-What would you highlight about the character of Haydn’s Quartet Op. 64, N ° 5? I understand that that name, The larkIt has to do with a reason that is developed and that the work is a great demand for the interpreters, since it requires speed and delicacy.
“The last movement is of great speed and virtuosity, without a doubt; we want to think that it is Haydn’s anxiety to change his experiential scene that motivates this movement; like us, we want to turn the page on this strange year ”.
-I understand that Beethoven composed his Quartet Op. 18 No. 4 before he was 30 years old, how much of the composer he became, in this early work?
“Beethoven was a rebel with a lot of cause; There were plenty of reasons to rebel in post-French Revolution Europe. But it was not only this aspect that affected the composer, his rude ways and his certainty that there was much to change were combined with a vital energy that knew no limits, so they pushed in him to get out of the turbulence of Romanticism, the The individual’s expression should not be subjected to the corset of classicism … The language had to be created, and he was risking it! They are the glimpses of a style that has yet to mature, but is there … in the making. The ‘Hero’ that Beethoven is for us lies precisely in this certainty of who he is and the pride of his individuality. Heroes are not those who at the cost of the lives of others build a place, but those who ‘with’ life and their creative capacity, leave us an example ”.
-How has this time of a pandemic been for you, as a quartet? Have they been able to continue working remotely or have they become more focused on their teaching work?
“In addition to the pandemic, the quartet was deeply affected this year by the illness of some of its members. We should have paused along the way and dedicated ourselves to healing before thinking of introducing ourselves. Even so, we have had a permanent activity with the students, via Zoom, of course. All in all, we are eager to play these works and I hope it was with an audience, although we still value being able to reach people via computer media ”.
-What feeling do you have about the fact that you will be able to meet and play, outdoors and with all the protocols, and offer this concert? Is it important for you to get back in touch with the public virtually?
“For us it is clearly a rebirth. Playing again after everything we’ve been through, not only as a quartet, but as a society, is a situation full of meanings and projections. We bring the comfort of Haydn and the bustling life of Beethoven ”.
01-14-2021 Journalistic information: Romina de la Sotta Donoso | IMUC extension.
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