Haydn, String Quartet No 78 in B flat, P 76 No 4 Sunrise
Wilfred Lehmann, Clarinet Quintet
Weber, Clarinet Quintet
Bartók, String Quarter No 4
Guest Artist: Brett Dean, viola
Experience Haydn’s unique talent in combining elegance with earthiness and high spirits with seriousness when the ASQ play his beautiful Sunrise Quartet. Then, watch as the blue paper is lit and stand back as Paul Dean, habitually described by The London Times as the “excellent Paul Dean”, and the Quartet create bravura fireworks tempered with lyricism in Carl von Weber’s Clarinet Quintet, in which the soloist has been described as an instrumental prima donna. Wilfred Lehmann’s Theme and variations for clarinet was written for Paul Dean. Each variation, based on the composers own theme, explores a different sound world and mood. Bela Bartók’s six String Quartets are at the pinnacle of twentieth century chamber music. Brace for a wild, white-knuckle ride as the ASQ reveal the “fearful symmetry’ of the Fourth Quartet, with its hair raising intensity and drama, distilled into a mere 20 minutes.