Renaud Largillier, violin
Aude Marchand, violin
Reiko Ikehata, viola
Claire Berlioz, cello
The Prométhée Quartet is an ensemble within an ensemble. Created in 2009 by musicians from the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, it responds to their desire to promote chamber music and the quartet repertoire in their region and beyond. They were the creators of the first work for the four-piece quartet by composer Baptiste Trotignon, Empreintes. For this concert at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, they have chosen two scores separated by thirty-five years but linked by the genius of Beethoven. In 1806-1807, Beethoven composed his three Razumovsky Quartets, jostling instrumentalists and listeners alike. “But what have I to do with your miserable bows when the spirit visits me?” he is said to have replied to the complaints of the musicians, who were amazed by the difficulty of the score. The 3rd retains the rhythmic energy of the first two, adding harmonic and formal surprises, and above all a slow, unstable introduction in which the main key is never pronounced. In 1842 Schumann turned his attention to chamber music, beginning with the string quartet. He wrote three pieces in quick succession, never to return. All the legacy of his Viennese predecessor is audible in this first work and its fugal entry, a moving trace of one of the rare moments of serenity in the musician’s life.
Program :
Robert Schumann, Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1
Ludwig Van Beethoven, Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 Razumovsky
