Venue: Oughterard Courthouse, Main Street Oughterard
Date: 19 November 2023 at 12:00pm
Price: Entry to the concerts is free, all are welcome. Booking is recommended (due to limited seating).
ConTempo Quartet will perform the second of only two published string quartets from Johannes Brahms. The composer took the genre of the string quartet very seriously and it is rumoured that he destroyed more than 20 previous attempts before he allowed his Op. 51, containing string quartets no. 1 and no. 2, to be released to the world. He had great respect for the work that Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven had done in creating and evolving the genre and felt the weight of responsibility in adding his own contribution. In fact, he remarked of Beethoven "You can't have any idea what it's like always to hear such a giant marching behind you!". Though String Quartet no. 2, along with its sister, was received with respect but without too much enthusiasm, the pair of works certainly re-energised the genre and partly inspired the great string quartets of Schoenberg and Bartók.
The programme will also feature Da Pace Domine by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The work is a universal prayer for peace originally composed for choir but later adapted for string quartet among other arrangements. In 2021 during a Covid Lockdown, the then Estonian Ambassador to Ireland Aino Lepik Von Wirén said of the piece: “In an unstable world with conflicts, threats and insecurities, this prayer gives us comfort and hope for a better future.” Join ConTempo Quartet on Tuesday or on Sunday 19 and let this music provide the balm we all need in the current climate.
Entry to the concerts is free, all are welcome.
Booking HERE is recommended (due to limited seating). Walk-ups also welcome.