Quartet Gerhard, Beethoven Quartet Op. 132

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Image courtesy of L'Auditori

Quartet Gerhard, one of the best-known Catalan ensembles in Europe, has been performing for more than fifteen years, guided by the teachings of Robert Gerhard, who said that “those who keep a tradition alive do not conform but rather transform.” Thus, the quartet from Tarragona explores a diverse repertoire with rigor and curiosity, taking on both acclaimed classics and pieces by contemporary composers. Their program this chamber season offers a good example of this versatility, with performances ranging from the liturgical motet O vos omnes by Renaissance composer Tomás Luis de Victoria to the string quartet Plan & Elevation by young American composer Caroline Shaw, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013.

The program also includes Ravel’s String Quartet in F, Op. 35, which was recorded by Quartet Gerhard for their album Portrait (2016), and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A, Op. 132, dedicated to the Russian prince Nikolai Golitsin. The latter is a grandiloquent and mature quartet structured in five movements, the third of which bears what is almost certainly an original title: Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode. Beethoven composed the piece after suffering a serious illness, which probably explains why, having recovered, he completed the work with a joyful Andante and an energetic Allegro appassionato.

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