Balena String Quartet

LIZ VAN MENTS, REBECCA BOYLE (violins)

VICKY VANDY (viola)

SALLY WHALE (‘cello)

Haydn

‘Largo’ Quartet Op 76 #5 in D Major

Schubert

Rosamunde Quartet (#13) in A minor D804

We are delighted to feature the debut performance by the locally-based Balena Quartet in a programme with string quartets by two masters of the form.

Haydn is generally regarded as its originator and by the Op 76 quartets (1797), he had reached his mature style. This quartet gains its nickname from its 2nd movement, which is the heart of the work. The rest of the work shows inventiveness and skill in use of forms.

The Rosamunde Quartet of 1824 shows all Schubert’s characteristic flair for melody. In the 2nd movement he uses material from incidental music written for a long-forgotten play of that name. Whilst there is a sense of Schubert’s melancholy in the first three movements, the final Allegro moderato is brighter, with characteristic changes from major to minor and some rhythmic quirks.