The Magnificent Four and the Grand Piano

The musicians of the Kazakh Quartet present a concert “The Magnificent Four and the Grand Piano”, featuring masterpieces of chamber music: String Quartet by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and Piano Quintet by Robert Schumann.

 

Bedřich Smetana’s String Quartet From My Life (1876) is a story about his own fate intertwined with the destiny of Czech art. Each movement of the quartet has a programmatic explanation by the composer. It reflects the full hopes of youth, readiness for life’s battles, memories of joyful days, dances and musical improvisations in salons, the poetic sense of first love and, finally, “joy at looking back on the path taken in national art”. The fourth movement of the string quartet includes a sustained high E note played by the first violin, mimicking the constant ringing in the composer’s ears (in 1874, Smetana lost his hearing).

 

The quartet consists of four movements:

 

Allegro vivo appassionato

Allegro moderato à la Polka

Largo sostenuto

Vivace

Robert Schumann composed his first and only String Quintet in 1842. The piano part of the E-flat major Quintet was written with Clara Schumann in mind – and it is certainly worthy of this renowned pianist of her time. The work harmoniously combines passionate intensity with the symmetry and balance of form, with many themes reflecting folk elements. The Quintet has numerous dramatic and even heroic passages, and some moments – especially in the finale – echo the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major is rightly considered one of his most inspired chamber compositions. It impresses not only with its refined form but also with the depth of its thought.

PROGRAMME:

Bedřich Smetana. String Quartet No. 1 in E minor

Robert Schumann. Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44

1. Allegro brillante

2. In modo d`una marcia. Un poco largamente - Agitato

3. Scherzo. Molto vivace - Trio I - Trio II - L`istesso tempo

4. Allegro, ma non troppo

Dedicated to Clara Schumann

PERFORMED BY

Yerkebulan Saparbayev (first violin)

Bagdat Abilkhanov, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan (second violin)

Darkhan Sadvakasov (viola)

Yermek Kurmanayev (cello)

Piano: Zarina Bimendinova

Tickets purchased at the Astana Opera are exchangeable and refundable only in cases of cancelled or postponed performances. In all other cases, no refunds and exchanges are possible.