Leonkoro Quartet - Ravel and Berg

Leonkoro Quartet

They bring their favourite work to the Small Hall: the musicians of the Leonkoro Quartet play Berg's Lyric Suite . 'The Leonkoro Quartet has an enormous stage presence, glows for the music, takes all risks and has an astonishing ability to empathise with the sound world of each piece', wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about the young German quartet. Even an important composer like Wolfgang Rihm made no secret of his admiration and spoke of wonderful quartet playing. The Leonkoros played themselves loud and clear into the spotlight after winning several prizes at important competitions.

Ravel and Berg

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Vienna was a melting pot of artistic ideas. Kokoschka and Schiele painted raw canvases, Klimt brilliant portraits: ethereal beauty alongside raw honesty. Similar elements can be found in Berg's Lyric Suite , written for Berg's secret lover Hanna Fuchs. Berg called the suite 'a small monument to a great love'. Also on the programme: Ravel. For years, the young Ravel strove for the Prix de Rome, but even his only string quartet did not win him the prestigious prize. Ravel's String Quartet is nevertheless a brilliant combination of formal mastery and sensuality.