Friday 15 September 7.30pm
£20.00 (18 and under free)
Book all 5 York Chamber Music Festival events in the same transaction and save £15.00
Venue: NCEM

Festival Artists

John Mills, Jonathan Stone violins
Hélène Clément, Simone van der Giessen violas
Jonathan Aasgaard, Tim Lowe Cellos
Billy Cole Double Bass

Haydn String Quartet Op. 76 No. 3

Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 2 in A minor Op. 13

Richard Strauss Metamorphosen, version for String Septet
(2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, double bass)

This concert brings together an international line up of some of the finest string players in Europe. Haydn’s series of six string quartets, Op. 76 was his last set, at the top of his game and defining the future of the string quartet for years to come. The 18 year old Mendelssohn was in love with his next door neighbour, Betty Pistor. He wrote her a poem and a quartet to match but she was not interested! But she provoked some gorgeous and joyous music, Felix’s first really mature chamber music. (in the end he didn’t really mind about Betty)

Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen, for String Septet is an unbroken heart-rending strand of lyricism which spans 25 minutes. Written during the violent endgame of the Second World War Metamorphosen, tells a story of bleakness and redemption, spinning and weaving themes together with such artistry that gives the septet a radiant brightness of tone and sheen perhaps never before heard in string music. Distraught by the terrible destruction of German cities and the brutal insanity of Hitler’s Third Reich, Strauss re-read his Goethe. Anger was not to be the last word. Beauty and truth will always triumph. We travel with Strauss from heartbreak to redemption; to transformation.

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