Beethoven, String Quartet in D Op 18 No 3
Brett Dean, Epitaphs for Viola and String Quartet
Brahms, String Quintet in G, Op 111Op 57
Guest Artist: Brett Dean, viola
Beethoven’s Op 18 quartets were his debut for this combination and, although composed under the lingering shadow Haydn & Mozart, quickly established his credentials as a major musical force. The miraculous profundity of the slow movement in Op 18 No 3 is a harbinger of his later genius in this form. In contrast, Johannes Brahms heeded the immortal words of Dylan Thomas not “to go gentle into that good night....” with his Op 111 String Quintet. Despite being composed well in to the composer’s middle age, its energy and dynamism make it seem like a product of a glorious Indian summer. Contemporary Australian composer Brett Dean used the same instrumental combination as Brahms in a very twenty-first century take in his Epitaphs for Viola & String Quartet to create engrossing musical portraits in memory of departed friends.