As last year, we are delighted to welcome another of the world's great string quartets, the Belcea Quartet, to open this year's festival. The famous introduction to Mozart's 'Dissonance' quartet seems like the darkest corner of an empty universe, before brilliant light floods in to banish the darkness. Yet in all the exhilarating sparkle, Mozart gives us tantalising glimpses of anxiety and loss. The Belceas are joined by the inspirational clarinettist Reto Bieri for Mozart's infinitely tender Clarinet quintet, and our distinguished composer-in-residence Thomas Adès contributes his radiant O Albion, a work harking back to late-Beethoven. Naturally, therefore, we end with Beethoven's last quartet, swinging from rough comedy, to soul-searching song, to a celestial playfulness.
Mozart 'Dissonance' quartet in C major, K465Mozart Clarinet quintet in A major, K581Adès O AlbionBeethoven String quartet in F major, op135
Every year the Oxford Chamber Music Festival brings together some of the most exciting classical musicians in Europe to live and play together for a week. Creative sparks fly as the players exchange musical partners and tackle the widest variety of sound-worlds.
