The prominent Stenhammar String Quartet of Sweden has more than two decades of world tours and over forty recordings to their name.
The program they have created for Virtuosi is a snapshot of the state of the string quartet at the turn of the last century in the hands of three master composers from across Europe. Germaine Tailleferre, a member of the famed Parisian composer’s collective Les Six, wrote her only string quartet early in her career in 1919. By contrast, Czech giant Bedřich Smetana produced his second string quartet near the end of his life in 1883, one of only four chamber works in an otherwise operatic catalogue. At the heart of this program lies Swedish pianist-composer Wilhelm Stenhammar’s String Quartet No. 3, completed in 1900. This concert is presented in partnership with GroundSwell