Andante festivo

Performers: State vilnius quartet TADAS MOTIEČIUS (accordion)

Program: JEAN SIBELIUS – Andante festivo, JS 34a–b for string quartet EDVARD GRIEG – String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27 DIANA ČEMERYTĖ – “Jahre ohne Mozart” (“Years without Mozart”) for string quartet and accordion ÁSTOR PIAZZOLLA – Suite for string quartet “Five Tango Sensations”

The State Vilnius Quartet, joining forces with one of Lithuania's most prominent accordionists, Tadas Motiečius, invites you to a solemn yet serene musical celebration. This mood is captured by the concert title “Andante festivo”: “At a walking pace, festively.”

The concert will symbolically open with the Finnish classic Jean Sibelius's string quartet “Andante festivo,” first performed at the composer's niece's wedding.

Like J. Sibelius, E. Grieg attempted to write string quartets several times, but ultimately left only one mature and completed work in this genre. He began writing String Quartet No. 1 in G minor in the summer of 1877, while living in seclusion in a Norwegian village. “The quartet is not intended for small minds,” the composer wrote in a letter to a friend. Today, this String Quartet is known as one of the chamber music examples that comes closest to the sound of a symphony orchestra.

Next in the program is Diana Čemerytė's “Jahre ohne Mozart”: a rethinking of examples from the piano quintet of the great master of classicism, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In this composition, D. Čemerytė engages in a dialogue with music history, transforming it into her own original creation.

The concert will conclude with Ástor Piazzolla's temperamental suite “Five Tango Sensations” – a cycle of five miniatures conveying five different moods.