Danish String Quartet at Stanford

Photo Credit: Caroline Bittencourt

The Danish String Quartet has been getting rave reviews, and it's apparent that they're among the most talented young quartets around. I believe that their only Bay Area appearance this season will be next week at Stanford. It's a great program, which is what you'd think of just about any program featuring a new work, Janáček, and Beethoven. Wish I could be there, but it's on a jujitsu night.

From the press release:

Thursday, October 13,  7:30PM

Stanford University - Bing Concert Hall

Stanford, California

Rolf Wallin Swans Kissing (DSQ Commission, West Coast Premiere)

Janáček String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters”

Beethoven String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59

The young and adventurous Danish String Quartet is already renowned globally for their outstanding level of musical refinement and lush interpretations of classical, contemporary, and folk traditions, offering programs featuring elegant and nuanced compositions of the 21st century, as well as the classics, for which they have been praised by the New York Times as “...one of the most powerful performances of [Beethoven’s] Opus 132 I’ve heard live or on disc.  The musicians acutely attuned to one another, didn’t appear to be on autopilot even for a millisecond, with every nuance, phrase, and gesture beautifully wrought.”  In April they released their debut recording on ECM Records featuring works by English and Scandinavian contemporary composers Thomas Adès, Per Nørgård, and Hans Abrahamsen to high international critical acclaim.  With their technical capability and interpretive prowess matched by an infectious joy for music-making and “rampaging energy,” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker) the Danish String Quartet is in demand worldwide by concert and festival presenters alike.  Giving concerts selected by the New York Times as highlights of the years 2012 and 2015, the Quartet won the £30,000 Borletti Buitoni Trust Award to support their creative endeavors on an international scale in February.  This year the group of musical friends host the tenth annual four-day DSQ Festival in Copenhagen, bringing together artists and colleagues the group has met in their travels.