Artis Quartett Wien . Gertrude Rossbacher

Have you attended the quartet series that has been taking place in deSingel over the past few years? If so, then you probably still have the full, warm sound of the Viennese Artis Quartet in your ears. This group of four is able to evoke the sound of an entire orchestra. This programme has been moulded to them. Due to its symphonic nature, Mendelssohn's Sixth String Quartet is an outsider in his quartet collection. It is also an unusual piece as regards its character. Here there is no trace of the lightness and lyrical fluidity we would normally associate with Mendelssohn. In this quartet, despair and uncertainty resound throughout. Mendelssohn screams out his sadness over the loss of his favourite and beloved sister Fanny. Together with the viola player Gertrude Rossbacher, we have invited the Artis Quartet to perform one of the less frequently played string quartets by Brahms. Just like Mendelssohn's Sixth Quartet Opus 111 from 1890, it considerably exceeds the limits of intimate chamber music. Exceptionally for Brahms, the last two sections are lively in character. Among his contemporaries, the atmosphere of the Viennese Prater was especially evoked by the stylised dances in the finale. Brahms confirmed this, adding: 'Isn't it so? And all those pretty girls!'