Opus13
Bartók, Byström and Brahms.
A hundred years ago, in an age of world wars and scientific revolutions, of Einstein and Oppenheimer, the brilliant and boisterous Béla Bartók wrote his explosive String Quartet no. 3. The quartet is a concentrated powerhouse. Hungarian folk music simmers below the surface, and new harmonies and playing techniques ring out wonderfully otherworldly, as if from a different planet.
Our own planet has grown smaller in the era of globalisation. In Images from the Floating World from 2019, the Swedish composer Britta Byström found inspiration in the Icelandic Njáls saga and the Japanese art form ukiyo-e. The seemingly disparate sources share the ability to convey fascinating stories in restrained forms and present as ancient, yet timeless and modern.
Brahms stood firmly in the old world, with Bach and Beethoven as models. Nevertheless, he treated his motifs with such invention that the modernist Schoenberg dubbed him 'Brahms the Progressive'. Listen to how Brahms the builder plants a single rising gesture as the melodic and rhythmic cornerstone of his whole tragic and magnificent String Quartet no. 1.
Opus13 also have a concert with Kei Solvang in Troldsalen on Thursday 3 June.
Image: Opus13. Photo: Julia Wesely
Bus to Troldsalen
Reserve a free seat on the bus to Troldsalen when purchasing your concert ticket. The bus departs one hour before the concert starts from the Tourist Information Centre, Strandkaien 3 in Bergen city centre, and returns to the city centre after the concert.
Contributors
Opus13
Sonoko Miriam Welde violin
Edvard Erdal violin
Albin Uusijärvi viola
Daniel Thorell cello
Works
Béla Bartók (1881–1945)
String Quartet no. 3, Sz. 85
1. Prima parte: Moderato
2. Seconda parte: Allegro
3. Ricapitulazione della prima parte: Moderato
4. Coda: Allegro moltoBritta Byström (1977–)
Images From the Floating World
1. Con moto
2. Ritmico
3. Leggiero
4. Grazioso
5. Energico
6. Con motoJohannes Brahms (1833–1897)
String Quartet no. 1 in C minor, op. 51 no. 1
1. Allegro
2. Romanze: Poco adagio
3. Allegretto molto moderato e comodo – Un poco più animato
4. Allegro
Supported by
More concerts at Troldhaugen
NOVO Quartet I
Jüri Reinvere's Four Quartets 1. & 2. & Beethoven's String Quartet no. 14
The new and the timeless at Troldhaugen.
Christina Nilsson
with Magnus Svensson
Swedish star soprano in an intimate evening of lieder at Troldhaugen.
NOVO Quartet II
Jüri Reinvere's Four Quartets 3. & 4. & Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor for piano and string quartet
Quartet poetry and Grieg’s A minor in a new light.
