The Well-Tempered Ear

The UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet performs the fifth installment of its complete Beethoven cycle this Friday night at 7:30 in a FREE live-streamed concert | November 19, 2020

 PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

As we draw close to Dec. 16 and the 250th birthday celebrations for Ludwig van Beethoven (below, in 1803), one of the joys and highlights of the Beethoven Year continues to impress.

The UW-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet will give the fifth installment of their complete cycle of the 16 string quartets by Beethoven this Friday night, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

Here is a direct link: https://youtu.be/nZN7tRu8N_k

Members of the quartet (below, from left) are: violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.

The FREE online virtual concert is a livestream from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, where the quartet will once again play with masks and social distancing (below).

No in-person attendance is allowed.

“It’s different playing without a live audience,” says cellist Parry Karp. “But we’re getting used to it. Not having to play other live concerts or to go on tour around the state also allows us to focus more. And the upside of playing online is that we saw quite a number of viewers from Brazil and Argentina listening to our last concert.”

Before each of the two quartets, Professor Charles Dill (below in a photo by Katrin Talbot), who teaches musicology at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will give a short introductory lecture.

The program features one early quartet and one middle “Razumovsky” quartet: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18 No. 3 (1798-1800); and String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, “Razumovsky,” Op. 59, No. 2 (1806). 

You can hear the Ebène Quartet play the hymn-like slow movement of the Razumovsky quartet, with its use of a Russian theme, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Here is more background from Wikipedia about both quartets:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._3_(Beethoven)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._8_(Beethoven)

For more information about the program, the names of the orchestra’s players and impressive historical background about the Pro Arte Quartet, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-beethoven-string-quartet-cycle-program-v/


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4 Comments »

    • Hi Kelly
      I don’t know if sending this link this means you simply don’t believe what I said or the quartet member said, or if you simply disapprove of the concert going on.
      But I also checked with the School of Music, which was uncertain until it checked with the UW legal department and the city and county.
      They all say it is ok for the concerts tonight and tomorrow to go on.
      I can’t give you specific reasons why. Perhaps it is because a concert hall is not the same as a house; or because the players spend so much time together rehearsing; or because they take all necessary safety precautions.
      If the situation changes, they will let me know and I will let you know.
      I hope that is satisfactory

      Like

      Comment by welltemperedear — November 19, 2020 @ 10:51 am

  1. Hi Kelly
    Thank you for your reply.
    It’s a good question.
    I checked with the quartet this morning.
    Latest word is that the concert is still on.
    If anything changes, I will post about it.
    Best wishes,
    The Ear

    Like

    Comment by welltemperedear — November 19, 2020 @ 9:49 am

  2. Is this still on? Madison & Dane County public health order #10 went into effect yesterday and does not allow any indoor gatherings with people from different households I thought.

    Like

    Comment by KellyC — November 19, 2020 @ 12:31 am


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