Oslo Philharmonic Chamber Series: Black Angels

Oslo Philharmonic Chamber Series: Black Angels In 1970 George Crumb wrote a string quartet in which helicopter rotors over Vietnam meet Schubert's Death and the Maiden. In "In tempore belli", Latin for "in time of war", frightening insect sounds are abruptly broken by the melody of Death and the Maiden. At this chamber concert you will also hear Schubert's Death and the Maiden itself, in a programme that explores the contrast between life and death, and between the beautiful and the vulgar. Programme: George Crumb: Black Angels George Crumb (1929-2022) wrote in the score of his string quartet: "in tempore belli", that is, in time of war in Latin. He wrote the quartet in 1970 as a lament for the Vietnam War. The frightening insect tremolos at the beginning of the work represent the attack helicopters used by the Americans during the war. He quotes other works in Black Angels, of which perhaps the most obvious is the Andante from Schubert's Death and the Maiden. Schubert: Death and the Maiden Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) was only 20 years old when he set the poem "Der Tod und das Mädchen" (Death and the Maiden) by the poet Matthias Claudius (1740-1815) to music, for voice and piano. The poem is written as a dialogue between a young woman and Death, and the Andante is the core of the quartet. The maiden begs Death to leave her be, since she is still young. The string quartet is throughout marked by sudden dramatic shifts from soft to loud, from the lyrical to the violently dramatic. Despite the work's gloomy theme, Schubert creates light in the darkness with beautiful and expressive melodies. Performers: Leah Andonov, violin Patrycja Błaszak-Bieńkuńska, violin Bénédicte Royer, viola Toril Syrrist-Gelgota, cello

• Leah Andonov
• Patrycja Błaszak-Bieńkuńska
• Bénédicte Royer
• Toril Syrrist-Gelgota

RECORDINGS OF THE WORKS

Franz Schubert: Strykekvartett nr. 14 i d-moll, D 810 («Døden og piken»)

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