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BEETHOVEN!

Watch video of Part One of the New Zealand String Quartet’s 25th anniversary project, BEETHOVEN!, a complete cycle of Beethoven’s sixteen string quartets in six concerts.

Part One: The Age of Enlightenment

Part one of this cycle, The Age of Enlightenment, is two programmes of the first six string quartets, written early in Beethoven’s life when he was 30. The title of the series refers to the graceful, classical elegance of the music, typical of that period in history and showing the influence of Haydn and Mozart.

The Age of Enlightenment programmes were presented by the New Zealand String Quartet exclusively at the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington, on 25 and 26 February 2012.

Music critic Garth Wilshere said that the Quartet ‘gave a virtuosic performance capturing an effortless quality, judging the harmonies perfectly.’

BEETHOVEN! is a partnership project between the New Zealand String Quartet and Chamber Music New Zealand in association with the New Zealand International Arts Festival.

String Quartet No 1 in F major Opus 18 No 1

  1. Allegro con brio
  2. Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato
  3. Scherzo: Allegro molto
  4. Allegro

String Quartet No 2 in G major Opus 18 No 2

  1. Allegro
  2. Adagio cantabile – Allegro – Tempo I
  3. Scherzo: Allegro
  4. Allegro molto, quasi presto

String Quartet No 3 in D major Opus 18 No 3

  1. Allegro
  2. Andante con moto
  3. Allegro
  4. Presto

String Quartet No 4 in C minor Opus 18 No 4

  1. Allegro ma non tanto
  2. Andante scherzoso, quasi Allegretto
  3. Menuetto: Allegretto
  4. Allegro – Prestissimo

String Quartet No 5 in A major Opus 18 No 5

  1. Allegro
  2. Menuetto
  3. Andante cantabile
  4. Allegro

String Quartet No 6 in B flat major Opus 18 No 6

  1. Allegro con brio
  2. Adagio ma non troppo
  3. Scherzo: Allegro
  4. La Malinconia: Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro

The New Zealand String Quartet’s Shostakovich taster

This excerpt is a little taster from one of the fabulous works we will be playing in our Power and Passion concert in the 2012 New Zealand Festival of the Arts programme on 4 March.

It is the Allegretto from Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 9 in Eb, Opus 117. We recorded this in early August 2011 at Parry Sound, Ontario, on our Canadian festivals tour.

Quartet shows another side

The Quartet performed their Goldilocks and the Three Bears routine in Toronto on 12 November and we heard from an audience member who took his children along that it was ‘achingly funny’ and that they were bent over with laughter for much of it. While the skit is altogether a great group effort we see a whole new side to Douglas Beilman in the Goldilocks outfit.

Here’s a video clip from this concert:

I attended the children’s concert that the New Zealand String Quartet performed in Toronto yesterday afternoon (12 November) for Mooredale Concerts, and am writing to say how much I enjoyed it. There were three adults and six children in our party, and we all had a wonderful time. The Goldilocks and the Three Bears routine was achingly funny – I was bent over with laughter for much of it! The skit was such a great group effort that I feel loathe to single out individual contributions, but may I just say that Douglas Beilman has a comedic gift that is truly rare among musicians.

My two daughters who attended (aged 8 and 10) genuinely enjoyed themselves. Often when I drag them along to events that I feel will be “good for them” they oblige and make polite, “let’s make Daddy happy” sorts of noises afterwards. This time they were so excited and happy after the concert – their reactions were spontaneous and honest, and they were vocal in letting me know that they had an absolutely great time, as did the two friends that they brought along and their two cousins. The concert was entertaining and fun, educational and moving. The quartet members all spoke well – they never talked down to or over the heads of the children, and at the same time there was plenty of food for thought for the adults as well.

Keep up the great work, NZSQ – you are building the audiences and music lovers of the future.”

Robin Elliott
University of Toronto

New Zealand at Kings Place

In July 2011 the New Zealand String Quartet visited the exciting new venue, Kings Place, in London to prepare for their themed week of concerts in March 2012. Here you’ll see the Quartet rehearsing in the beautiful Kings Place concert hall and talking about the programmes they’ll present in London with guest artists Jonathan Lemalu, Madeleine Pierard and Richard Nunns.

The New Zealand String Quartet in London

The New Zealand String Quartet is recorded here rehearsing for concerts in the City of London Festival July 2011 and describing two works by New Zealand composers, Lyell Cresswell’s Kotetetete and Gillian Whitehead’s Puhake ki te rangi, performed in Festival programmes. The rehearsals of Bartok’s 4th Quartet and Kotetetete were recorded in Merchant Taylor’s Hall. Soundtrack includes Jack Body’s Three Transcriptions for string quartet and Whitehead’s Puhake ki te rangi, both recorded by Atoll Records.

New Zealand String Quartet records Schubert on YouTube

The New Zealand String Quartet recently recorded Schubert’s epic String Quartet in G major D887 in St Anne’s Church in Toronto. The producers were Bonnie Silver and Norbert Kraft, old friends from recording sessions of the Quartet’s acclaimed Mendelssohn set. This recording will be released on CD by Trust Records; meanwhile, you can enjoy this performance of the delightful Scherzo from the work.

New Zealand String Quartet plays Schumann and Shostakovich on YouTube

The New Zealand String Quartet’s recent Schumann and Shostakovich tour in New Zealand delighted critics and audiences. Here you can enjoy two samples: the Quartet playing the second movement of Schumann’s String Quartet in A Minor Opus 41 No 1 and Shostakovich’s 7th String Quartet in F-sharp Minor Opus 108, both recorded in the Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University, on August 31, 2010.

New Zealand String Quartet playing Beethoven on YouTube

The New Zealand String Quartet’s acclaimed performance of the Allegro from Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartet in E minor Opus 59 No 2 is now on YouTube for all to enjoy.

Venues

Douglas Beilman, 2nd violinist of the New Zealand String Quartet, takes time out from a rehearsal of Shostakovich to explain the Quartet’s approach to concert venues.

New Zealand String Quartet on YouTube, recording Jack Body’s Three Transcriptions