repertoire

Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet No. 5 in D major, Op. 76 (1796-1797) 17′
Francisco Coll: Cantos (2017) 5′
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 G major, D. 887 (1826) 49′

ARTISTS

Vera Martínez, violin
Abel Tomàs, violin
Cristina Cordero, viola
Arnau Tomàs, cello

Programme

Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D. 887 —his last quartet, published posthumously in 1851— can hardly be described as a work of maturity because he wrote it two years before he died at the young age of 31, without having had the opportunity to fully develop his compositional career. Nonetheless, this is a quartet that reflects a uniquely Schubertian language, sophisticated in its formal elaboration and far removed from the classicism that the composer had emulated in earlier works. The dramatic qualities of the first two movements, the use of repeated tremolos, the innovative harmonies and the lyricism of the scherzo all contribute to making this quartet a complex and vibrant work.

Meanwhile, Franz Joseph Haydn’s series of string quartets Op. 76 was also composed towards the end of the life of a composer who is considered the father of the string quartet and an indisputable point of reference for any chamber ensemble. The fifth quartet in this series, dedicated to Count Erdödy, is known as the Funeral Quartet because the second movement, a slow, melancholy Largo, is often performed at funerals. Finally, Quartet Casals will also perform Cantos, a one-movement piece in which the Valencian composer Francisco Coll imitates the modulations of the human voice through a highly lyrical and cadential style of writing.

This concert is included in the programme of the Festival Ciutat de Clàssica