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American String Quartet
Laurie Carney and Peter Winograd - violins
Matthias Buchholz - viola
Wolfram Koessel - cello
Internationally recognized as one of the world's finest quartets, the American String Quartet has spent decades honing the luxurious sound for which it is famous. The Quartet celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2019, and, in its years of touring, has performed in all fifty states and has appeared in the most important concert halls worldwide. The group’s presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim, and their MusicMasters Complete Mozart String Quartets, performed on a matched quartet set of instruments by Stradivarius, are widely considered to have set the standard for this repertoire.
Recent seasons featured performances of the Quartet’s major project together with the National Book Award-winning author Phil Klay and the poet Tom Sleigh, which offers a groundbreaking program combining music and readings that examines the effects of war. The Quartet also collaborated with the renowned author Salman Rushdie in a work for narrator and quartet by the film composer Paul Cantelon built around Rushdie’s novel The Enchantress of Florence. These tremendously imaginative collaborations cement the American String Quartet’s reputation as one of the most adventurous and fearless string quartets performing today, as comfortable with the groundbreaking as with the traditional.
The Quartet's diverse activities have also included numerous international radio and television broadcasts, including a recent recording for the BBC; tours of Asia; and performances with the New York City Ballet, the Montreal Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Recent highlights include performances of an all-sextet program with Roberto and Andrès Díaz, many tours of South America, and performances of the complete Beethoven cycle of string quartets at the Cervantes Festival in Mexico and the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel.
The American’s additional extensive discography can be heard on the Albany, CRI, MusicMasters, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch, and RCA labels. Most recently the group released "Schubert's Echo," which pairs Schubert's monumental last quartet with works bearing its influence by Second Viennese masters Alban Berg and Anton Webern. This repertoire posits that the creative line from the First to the Second Viennese Schools is continuous – and evident when these works are heard in the context of each other.
As champions of new music, the American has given numerous premieres, including George Tsontakis’s Quartet No. 7.5, “Maverick,” Richard Danielpour's Quartet No. 4, and Curt Cacioppo's a distant voice calling. The premiere of Robert Sirota’s American Pilgrimage was performed around the U.S. in the cities the work celebrates. The Quartet premiered Tobias Picker’s String Quartet No. 2 in New York City in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Manhattan School of Music.
Formed when its original members were students at The Juilliard School, the American String Quartet’s career began with the group winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award in the same year. Resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival since 1974 and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York since 1984, the American has also served as resident quartet at the Taos School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Presenting an All Beethoven Program
On the 200th Anniversary of Beethoven’s Death
String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127 Ludwig Van Beethoven
Maestoso – Allegro (1770 – 1827)
Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile
Scherzando vivace - Presto
Finale - Allegro
Intermission
String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 Ludwig Van Beethoven
(“Razumovsky”)
Introduzione. Andante con moto – Allegro vivace
Andante con moto quasi Allegretto
Menuetto (Grazioso)
Allegro molto
Program Subject to Change
Agent Information: Peter Winograd (peterwinograd@gmail.com)
Program Notes
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist who spearheaded the musical transition from the Classical to the Romantic era; he created a catalog over 720 compositions in all major genres during his career. Born in Bonn, Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 to study with Joseph Haydn, and quickly established himself as a virtuoso pianist. The Viennese correspondent of a German newspaper in 1800 wrote: "…private concerts (in well-to-do homes) are legion here all winter long. Not a name-day, not a birthday goes by without a musical performance". Beethoven's reputation made him integral to many of these gatherings, both as a pianist and as a composer of chamber music. Even when profound hearing loss ultimately forced him to retire from public performance, he continued to compose, producing visionary and complex late works. He passed away in Vienna in 1827 at age 56, leaving a legacy that transformed the trajectory of Western classical music.
String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127 (1823 – 1825) marks Beethoven’s return to the string quartet medium after a decade-long hiatus. Widely considered the first of his revolutionary "Late Quartets," the piece introduces a more introverted and spiritually radiant musical language than he had used heretofore. It was commissioned by the wealthy Russian Prince Nicolas Galitzin, a cellist and great enthusiast of Beethoven’s work. His offer paid so well that it successfully coaxed Beethoven back to writing string quartets.
Maestoso – Allegro: The work opens with a grand, imposing chorale before pulling back into a tender, gentle, and introspective Allegro. This contrast between grand public statements and intimate, private ruminations defines much of the movement.
Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile: Considered the emotional heart of the quartet, this movement is an expansive and prayerful set of variations on a chorale-like theme.
Scherzando vivace – Presto: Introduced by playful, deconstructed pizzicato chords, this movement operates like a lively, sometimes demonic dance. It features a driving energy that propels the music forward before a quiet, witty close.
Finale – Allegro: The final movement begins in dramatic unison before blossoming into a joyful, folk-like dance, concluding with a magical, intricate coda to close.
String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3 (1807) is the last of Beethoven’s three celebrated Razumovsky quartets, refering to a celebrated set of three string quartets very handsomely underwritten by Count Andrey Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador to the Habsburg court in Vienna. These works revolutionized chamber music by shifting the genre from amateur entertainment into the public concert hall. Razumovsky, himself an avid amateur violinist, had established his own resident ensemble, the Schuppanzigh Quartet, for whom he commissioned Beethoven to write these three string quartets. He requested that Beethoven incorporate a Russian folk melody into each of the quartets as an homage to his heritage. Beethoven obliged in the first two quartets, utilizing melodies from a published folk collection. When premiered by the Schuppanzigh Quartet in 1807, the music was considered radically incomprehensible by contemporary listeners, and was met with harsh reviews. The virtuoso Italian violinist Felix Radicati supposedly asked Beethoven if he seriously considered these pieces to be “music”, reportedly prompting Beethoven to retort: “Oh, they are not for you, but for a later age!”
Introduzione. Andante con moto – Allegro vivace: The quartet begins with a deeply atmospheric and suspenseful introduction. Then the dark tension is suddenly broken by a burst of sunshine as the Allegro vivace launches into a joyful, light-hearted theme.
Andante con moto quasi allegretto: The second movement plunges the listener into a mood of gentle melancholy. The movement feels remarkably solitary, often interpreted as an intimate self-reflection on the composer’s progressive hearing loss.
Menuetto (Grazioso): The third movement returns to the calm, gracious elegance of the classical era. It serves as a polite, stylish dance that directly evokes the Rococo period. Rather than concluding in the conventional way, the movement's final chord dissolves into an unresolved transition that bridges seamlessly into the final movement…(without pause)…
Allegro molto: The fugal finale erupts like a whirlwind, driven by a relentless rhythmic energy. The instruments chase each other in a frantic perpetual motion that rushes headlong to the finish, ending the Razumovsky cycle with a dazzling, triumphant flourish.