Alexander String Quartet to Perform at San Carlos
In the third concert of the 2014 season, Impromptu Classical Concerts presents the internationally-acclaimed Alexander String Quartet performing Beethoven’s “String Quartets” at San Carlos Institute on Sunday, February 2, at 4:00 pm. The musicians look forward to their return to our island city: “We haven’t played in Key West in a few years but have fond memories of most enthusiastic audiences in the Keys.”
The Alexander String Quartet has been playing Beethoven quartets since the day it started over 32 years ago. The Quartets of Beethoven are pretty much central to any String Quartet players mindset. Fred Lifstitz, the First Violinist with Alexander String Quartet explains: “They represent, to this day, the ultimate level of achievement in the continuum of the string quartet genre. To many musicians and great thinkers in every field, the String Quartets of Beethoven are esteemed on the level of the great plays of Shakespeare and, some may say, the Bible itself. That’s a rather hefty claim, I know, but for us they are still like the Mount Everest of compositions.”
And the venue can contribute significantly to the enjoyment of great music. Mr Lifstitz again: “The San Carlos Institute is a rather apt place to present the music of Beethoven, who was a great believer in the independence and equality of all people, and even destroyed the title page of his Eroica Symphony and thus its original dedication to Napoleon, when he heard about Napoleon declaring himself Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire…Most of the San Carlos looks like a beautiful and intimate space in which to experience the power and intimacy of these stunning compositions which we have been privileged to play for over three decades. Music stands to this day as an inspiration to countless writers, philosophers and, of course, musicians.”
Beethoven’s String quartets are divided into three major periods- Early, Middle and Late. Alexander String Quartet strives to present a balanced view of these periods when programming a series that doesn’t contain the full 16 Quartet cycle. The early works are much in the style of Haydn and Mozart, but with the definite stamp of Beethoven’s distinct personality. The Middle quartets are from his Heroic period, (1805-10) where he really made his mark as the supreme composer of Europe, the musician as hero. The late period works are almost like intimate journals of a great and deep thinking mind as it takes on the meaning of life and our place in the vast universe. The music goes from the highest and mightiest athletic moments to moments of utter breath stopping transparency.
In keeping with Beethoven’s belief in equality and independence, the Quartet, as a genre, is a very democratic ensemble: “We have no real ‘leader or concertmaster’. Like our own Congress here in the U.S.A., we all take turns leading, directing, cajoling, and even occasionally bribing one another as we steer our way through interpretations and the business involved in our lives as a professional string quartet which does business on four continents.”
The Alexander String Quartet bring their musical mastery and highly refined democracy to the San Carlos Institute on Sunday, February 2nd, 4:00pm.
Concert tickets are $ 20 at the door one hour before the performance, by calling 305.743.2283, or online: Keystix.com. All students free.