En hypnotisk konsert i Paulus kirke med Oslo String Quartet og cembalist Lars Henrik Johansen, fra ny norsk musikk via Górecki til fransk barokk.

En gjentatt figur kan være en puls, en flate, en mekanisme, en felle. Den kan holde tiden på plass eller få den til å spinne raskere enn tanken. Gjentakelsen står i sentrum for denne senkveldskonserten: lys, perkussiv og mekanisk, men også hallusinatorisk og skjør.

Henryk Góreckis Cembalokonserten er ni minutter med komprimert energi. Det forsterkede cembaloet skjærer gjennom strykerne med en ubønnhørlig kraft, mens insisterende gjentakelser holder musikken i bevegelse.

Jonas Lie Skaaruds Transparent Fabric bygger på feltopptak gjort i Oslo under koronapandemien, da byen var nesten folketom og lydene fra infrastrukturen lå merkelig blottlagt, blant annet vifter, ventilasjonsanlegg og transformatorstasjoner. Kvartetten stiger fram fra dette mekaniske bakteppet.

Fra Pancrace Royers L’Aimable til Le Vertigo tipper elegansen over i turbulens, før François Couperins Les Barricades mystérieuses avslutter konserten med en annen form for svimmelhet. Sammenflettede mønstre stenger vekselvis for og avdekker musikken, mens fragmenter av melodi trenger fram gjennom åpninger i de harmoniske veggene.

Program

Henryk Górecki Cembalokonsert, op. 40 (1980)
for forsterket cembalo og strykere

Jonas Lie Skaarud Transparent Fabric (2022/23)
for strykekvartett og elektronikk

Pancrace Royer L’Aimable (1746) og Le Vertigo (1746)
for cembalo

François Couperin Les Barricades mystérieuses (1717)
for cembalo

Solidly rooted in repertoire from the classical period to  the present day, Oslo String Quartet has become one of Scandinavia’s  most acclaimed and sought-after chamber ensembles. Their deep commitment  and unique ability to combine intellectual approach with vivid  presentation has attracted attention far beyond Norway’s borders. 
Oslo String Quartet was founded in 1991 by violinists Geir Inge  Lotsberg and Per Kristian Skalstad, viola player Are Sandbakken, and  cellist Øystein Sonstad. The four members each had wide experience from  playing with other ensembles and orchestras at home and abroad, coming  together to form an élite group for refined studies of the chamber music  repertoire. 
To begin with this resulted in an extensive series of  concerts at the University Aula in Oslo, where Beethoven’s string  quartets comprised the core of their programmes. In addition to other  major works for string quartet, the series included several premier  performances of works by Norwegian composers. The group made their mark internationally when they achieved a place in  the finals of the London International String Competition in 1994. 
At  the same time their recording of Edvard Grieg’s complete string  quartets was attracting attention abroad, and in 1999 the group’s  recording of the complete string quartets of Carl Nielsen was selected  as Editor’s Choice in the prestigious Gramophone magazine. After this  came numerous recordings of important works such as Alban Berg’s Lyric  Suite and Jean Sibelius’ Voces Intimae, and several newer works on  labels including Naxos, CPO, Fabra and Aurora. Wilhelm Stenhammar's  string quartets no. 3-6 were recorded by the OSQ 2006/2007, was released  by CPO in 2011. 
The groups latest recordings are Grieg Revisited  and a second volume with popular tunes arranged for the Quartet by  Øystein Sonstad, both projects for the Fabra label. 
From the very beginning Oslo String Quartet revealed a particular  interest in new music, and they regularly commission and perform works  by living composers. For their contribution to contemporary music they  were nominated “Performer of the Year” in 1998 by the Norwegian Society  of Composers, and in 1999/2000 they were awarded the Music Critics’  Prize. 
They have also been responsible for uncovering “hidden  treasures” of the Norwegian quartet repertoire; it is thanks to Oslo  String Quartet that we can today enjoy excellent recordings of works by  Fartein Valen, Klaus Egge, Johan Kvandal, David Monrad Johansen and Knut  Nystedt, among others.

Focus on presentation and experimenting with new and different  audiences has always been an important aspect of the quartet’s  activities. School concerts and mini-festivals with specially adapted  programmes have provided useful insight into communicating with  audiences. The “Beethoven Code” festival, during which Oslo String  Quartet performed Beethoven’s complete string quartets for the second  time, proved to be a major breakthrough, attracting new audience members  from a great variety of backgrounds. The key to this success lay  perhaps in the quartet’s close collaboration with a number of lecturers  and speakers who at each concert offered a new perspective on  Beethoven’s work.
In 2007 violinist Liv Hilde Klokk took over the  position of second violin. The quartet arranged two new mini-festivals:  “G-force” in conjunction with the hundredth anniversary of Edvard  Grieg’s death, and “Schubert Mysteries”. As well as continuing the  concept of a verbal perspective in the form of talks and readings, the  latter festival also introduced various musical guests. The quartet has  recently enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with the Stavanger  International Chamber Music Festival, Stavanger City of Culture 2008,  and the Norwegian National Ballet in a production called “På kammerset”  (In private). Together with choreographer Jorma Elo they have developed a  work for the stage which includes Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor,  “Death and the Maiden”. The production has been staged in Stavanger and  Kristiansand, and at Oslo’s new opera house.
As well as having been  regular guests at all the major chamber music festivals in Norway for  many years, Oslo String Quartet has been invited to major international  events, including the Schleswig Holstein festival. The quartet has  toured Germany and the rest of Europe, and given regular performances at  London’s Wigmore Hall. Their USA début in 2005, at Carnegie Hall in New  York, is the highlight of their international career to date.

Photo: Andrej Grilc

Oslo Strykekvartett

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