Quatuor Diotima
Victor Julien-Laferrière cello 

This is the second concert this season as part of Quatuor Diotima’s residency on avenue Montaigne, and for this concert they are inviting the young cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière to join them for Schubert’s Quintet D. 956. This is a major work in the composer’s chamber music repertoire and the presence of two cellos gives it a very richly expressive deep sonority and an almost orchestral dimension. “Only now have I truly learned to compose quartets,” said Beethoven in 1801, when he had just completed his first collection of string quartets for Opus 18. The composer must have found competition with Haydn and Mozart oppressive. Right from String Quartet No. 1, with its dramatic echoes of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we are aware of the daring and originality of his writing for the quartet formation, which would blossom in years to come. By way of conclusion to this concert and as part of the Radio France Festival Présences dedicated to contemporary creation, Quatuor Diotima will premiere a piece by Georges Aperghis, a major European creative figure in recent decades. His works, be they instrumental, vocal or theatrical, explore the boundaries of the dialogue between music and text. His poetry is at the intersection of different intellectual disciplines, but always retains a deeply sensory dimension. 

Coproduction Théâtre des Champs-Élysées | Radio France
France Musique enregistre ce concert.