Apollon Musagète Quartett

The Polish Apollon Musagète Quartett continues to amass awards. They are flexible in both repertoire and performance and here present a surprising programme.
Puccini and chamber music? Yes, in one night he wrote an elegy for string quartet whose beauty is matched only by its originality. Sibelius also surprises us:his 'Andante Festivo' for string quartet is carried along on a single hymn-like melody. Arensky dedicated his Second String Quartet to Tchaikovksy. He accentuated its pathos with some dark tones, for example when giving voice to the soul of the Russian people in the intimate setting of a string quartet. Grieg too remained true to the popular culture of his own nation. The capricious structure of his only string quartet to have been preserved in full evokes images of Norwegian fjords.