Hagen Quartett

The Hagen Quartet needs no introduction. This German quartet has been at the top of its field for a number of years and has continued to maintain a strong position. The starting point of the programme opens with arrangements Anton Webern wrote in 1906 of the second part of 'Choralis Constantinus' by the Flemish polyphonist Heinrich Isaac. In this monumental collection of choral settings for multiple voices of mispropria, Isaac pulled together all the contrapuntal techniques known at that time. This, for Webern, was an inexhaustible source of inspiration. What likened Webern to the Hungarian composer György Kurtág was his aphoristic style. The '12 Mikroludien' by Kurtág composed in 1977-1978 are twelve miniature pieces that navigate a complete spectrum of expression in a short space of time. They range from extreme calm to 'molto agitato', from dramatic outbursts to serene simplicity. When it comes to form, the Third String Quartet by Dmitri Shostakovitch, composed in 1946, goes back to old standards. As far as content is concerned it already contained the seeds of the typically sarcastic tone that would increasingly govern his music. Antonín Dvorák's Thirteenth String quartet is his most important contribution to the genre in musical history terms, because of its original and well-thought-out structure.