Alma Quartet with Beethoven, Janáček and Adams

Alma Quartet

A welcome guest in the Small Hall is the Dutch Alma Quartet. The foursome combines quartet life with a job in the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Can an orchestral function be combined with top-level chamber music? The Alma leaves no doubt that this is possible. The quartet's programs are inventive, and one of its favourite composers is American Samuel Adams, who once again wrote a work for musicians. They will also perform Janáček's famous Intimate Letters and Beethoven's Twelfth String Quartet.

Beethoven's op. 127

In 1822, Nikolai Galitzin, a Russian nobleman in Vienna, commissioned Beethoven for three string quartets. Two years later, Beethoven dictated to his secretary, Anton Schindler, a letter to the members of the Schuppanzigh Quartet: 'Dear friends! Each of you hereby receives his share. And each of you commits to doing your best. All four of you must sign this paper. BEETHOVEN'. The contract refers to the String Quartet in E flat, op. 127, the premiere of which went very poorly. Beethoven would later attribute the failure to Schuppanzigh's extreme eating habits!