Notos Quartett

In the organizer's words:

Notos Quartet

Sindri Lederer: violin

Andrea Burger: viola

Benjamin Lai: violoncello

Antonia Köster: piano

Gabriel Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1

Bryce Dessner: "Spirals"

Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Quartet

The Notos Quartet impresses as one of the rare piano quartet ensembles worldwide - not only with technical and musical mastery, but also with well thought-out, surprising programs. For its debut at the Beethovenfest Bonn, it will be performing two French quartets that are played far too rarely in this country.

After losing the war against Prussia, France's cultural life was searching for a new identity from 1871 onwards. During this time, the established national composer Camille Saint-Saëns called on the younger generation to create new chamber music works. He himself led the way with a lively piano quartet full of original characters. You will look in vain for narrow-minded nationalism: the influences of Johann Sebastian Bach and Robert Schumann are clearly audible. Gabriel Fauré, ten years his junior, took up the idea and began his Piano Quartet in C minor, a soulful, finely balanced work with echoes of Johannes Brahms' Piano Quartet in C minor, which had appeared a few years earlier.

As an intermezzo, the quartet will play "Spirals" by Bryce Dessner, who is successful both as a guitarist in the New York band The National and as a classical composer. This work, commissioned by the Notos Quartet, is currently being performed exclusively by him.