An Intimate Knowledge
June 2013
The Brodsky Quartet and the Shostakovich Cycle
In 1972 a group of talented youngsters aged between 11-13 years old gathered together after Friday night Youth Orchestra practice to play football, table tennis and string quartets. Very early on, they distinguished themselves as innovative and courageous musicians, winning numerous awards both in their native England, and across the world. Forty years later, the Brodsky Quartet is still going strong.
Maintaining “freshness” in the repertoire and evident chemistry on stage, the quartet always sought to invest time and imagination in the exploration of their repertoire and to break with the accepted norms in concert presentation, including the audience in the intimacy of performance, and ‘breaking away from the illusion that chamber music is an elitist artform’.
Their exploration has seen the Quartet embrace a wide range of musical eras and genres, having worked and recorded with pop musicians such as Björk, Sting, Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, gathering a huge and diverse fan base for themselves along the way. Such energy has seen them tour extensively, doing ongoing educational work to pass the wealth of their knowledge on to the next generation of performers.
The Brodsky Quartet, consisting of Ian Belton (violin), Paul Cassidy (viola), Daniel Rowland (violin) and Jacqueline Thomas (cello), are a virtuoso ensemble famous for their dynamic and engaging performance.
Having played over 2000 concerts across the world’s best stages and released more than 50 recordings, it is still the Shostakovich Cycle, from Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, that they are best known for. The 15 string quartets that make up this cycle are collectively thought of as one of the great works of the 20th century.
“Shostakovich has been part of our lives since the very beginning,” explains Paul Cassidy of the Brodsky Quartet. “It always amazes me that he was still completing his epic journey of 15 quartets when we started playing them back in 1972. Excitedly we scribbled onto manuscript in a quest to learn his music in the early days, when parts were still hard to come by.”
Experiencing the complete string quartet cycle gives the listener an insight into the expression of Shostakovich’s innermost thoughts and feelings: the wit, the irony and the passion – a compelling life and death battle of ideas, truth, ideology and existence.
The Quartet will bring this intimate knowledge to Melbourne where they will perform the entire Shostakovich String Quartet Cycle with musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music, along with a series of pre-concert talks by members of the Brodsky Quartet.
Performances on July 5 at 7pm; July 6 at 5pm and 8pm; July 7 at 2pm and 5pm.
Package tickets for all five performances: $220 (full); $160 (senior); $120 (concession)
Individual tickets: $55 (full); $40 (senior); $30 (concession). To book call 9645 7911 or online at tickets.anam.com.au
Australian National Academy of Music, South Melbourne Town Hall, 210 Bank Street, South Melbourne.
anam.com.au
Image:
Brodsky Quartet. Photo: Benjamin Ealovega
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