West Riding Ensemble – String Quartets

The West Riding Ensemble brings three iconic chamber works to life in this concert of string quartets.

The key of C minor links two of the works, Beethoven employing it in typically stormy heroism in the fourth of his opus 18 quartets, whilst Shostakovich’s ‘Dresden’ quartet (no 8) – often thought to be autobiographical – perhaps embodies more of the tragic than the heroic. Dvořák’s ‘American’ quartet brings a lighter mood, reflecting the freedom the composer felt when visiting a Czech community in Iowa. All three works draw on ‘folk’ or indigenous tunes and influences.

PROGRAMME
BEETHOVEN: quartet in C minor, op.18 no 4
SHOSTAKOVICH: quartet no 8 in C minor, op.110
DVORAK: quartet no 12 in F major, op. 96 ‘American’

PERFORMERS
Maria Nikolaeva & David Milsom: violin
Charlotte Kenyon: viola
George Kennaway: cello