The talented musicians of the Arod Quartet perform at numerous international festivals as well as in esteemed concert halls, and in 2024 their musical journey will bring them to the Dubrovnik Summer Festival stage, where they will show all their virtuosity, which, among other many other awards, brought them the prestigious first prize at the ARD International Competition in Munich.
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Benjamin Attahir:
Al´ Asr (2018) - written for the Quatuor Arod
Claude Debussy:
String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
Animé et très décidé
Assez vif et bien rythmé
Andantino, doucement expressif
Très modéré – En animant peu à peu – Très mouvementé et avec passion
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Ludwig van Beethoven:
String Quartet in C-sharp minor No. 14, Op. 131
Adagio – Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile – Presto – Adagio quasi un poco andante – Allegro
French composer Benjamin Attahir (b. Toulouse, 1989) wrote, among others, several works based on the Muslim daily prayer cycle, salah, including Al 'Asr, the string quartet he wrote for the Arod Quartet. Within the framework of Islam, Attahir attempts to integrate references to other monotheistic religions using Gregorian, Oriental and Jewish klezmer elements. The Arod Quartet premiered Al 'Asr in 2017, at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris.
This is what Attahir says about the piece:
‘Al 'Asr is the afternoon prayer. I tried to translate the atmosphere at that exact moment of the day into music. Glaring light, sweltering heat, the diffraction of the air as it touches the ground; my mind was filled with images as I wrote this piece.
But Al 'Asr is also the 103rd Surah of the Quran that speaks of Time and the future of all beings. The structure in three verses served as the foundation for this quartet, though the holy text itself is not highlighted. Poetry and allegory have always guided me in my work.'
Benjamin Attahir trained as a violinist before he became passionate about composing. His mentors include Édith Canat de Chizy, Marc-André Dalbavie, Gérard Pesson and Pierre Boulez.
He has won numerous prizes in competitions such as the IHC Bloomington and the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers, as well as the SACEM and the Académie des Beaux-Arts prizes. In 2019 and 2021 he was nominated for the Victoire de la musique classique in the category 'Composer of the Year'.
His works are performed by various ensembles and orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ensemble intercontemporain, the Tokyo Sinfonietta etc. He was composer in residence at the National Orchestra of Lille, the Gulbenkian in Lisbon and at numerous festivals. He was resident at the Villa Médicis, where he was acquainted with the work of the author and playwright Lancelot Hamelin, with which he weaves an uninterrupted dialogue.
Pieces for the stage are the backbone of his musical writing, which, like his origins, draws its inspiration halfway between East and West. In 2019, he conducted the premiere of his third opera, Le silence des ombres, composed to a libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck.
He regularly collaborates with artists such as Daniel Barenboim, Renaud Capuçon, Bertrand Chamayou, Emmanuel Pahud, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Marc Coppey, Henri Demarquette, Gérard Caussé, Hae-Sun Kang, Geneviève Laurenceau, Raquel Camarinha, Claude Delangle, Olivier Stankiewiez, Tugan Sokhiev, Pascal Rophé and with institutions such as La Comédie Française and Quanzhou Liyuan Theatre. He is a co-founder of the ÆNEA Ensemble.
His music is published by Salabert / Universal Music Classical.
'I've had to start all over again three times', wrote Claude Achille Debussy (St. Germain-en-Laye, 1862 – Paris, 1918) to his friend, composer Ernest Chausson, about the difficulties he experienced while writing his only String Quartet.
He finished it in 1893, and it was premiered in Paris by the Ysaÿe Quartet. Despite being one of Debussy's most popular works, Chausson did not like it, so Debussy replied that he will write another quartet just for him and 'try to clothe it in more dignified clothing', but he never did.
Debussy was probably inspired by César Franck's String Quartet, as well as Liszt's 'cyclic' principle where a signature theme recurs in every movement. In Debussy’s quartet, the lively opening theme recurs in later movements, ranging from the undulating strings in the opening, the bold and rhythmic second movement with innovative sound effects and the muted Andantino, to the finale that grows livelier as it progresses, bringing a wealth of colours. Some contemporaries even accused Debussy of making his popular Quartet 'too orchestral'.
Claude Debussy studied at the Paris Conservatory, where he was criticised for not adhering to the rules of composing (he won the prestigious French Prix de Rome scholarship in 1885 despite that fact). After being influenced by French composers, he discovered Palestrina, Russian composers and was shortly thrilled by Wagner, but later stated that he ‘mistook a beautiful sunset for a dawn’. Debussy was also very interested in music of other cultures. The 1889 World Exhibition in Paris played an important part in this matter because it introduced him to the Indonesian gamelan music. He often employed non-Western scales, archaic sequences, modes, the pentatonic and the whole-tone scale – he was influenced by the East, but also by contemporary harmonic procedures, i.e. tendencies towards ‘breaking’ tonality. Many of his works were inspired by poetry, and he connected music to visual stimuli (but refused to be considered an ‘impressionist’ composer). Apart from the String Quartet, he wrote orchestral works, songs, inventive short piano pieces, the opera Pelléas et Mélisande and one of the most important orchestral works of his era, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.
'After this, what is left for us to write?' Franz Schubert reportedly said after hearing Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 131 in 1828, a couple of days before he died. The Quartet No. 14 was allegedy Ludwig van Beethoven's (Bonn, 1770 – Vienna, 1827) favourite among the sixteen string quartets he wrote. He completed it in the summer of 1826 and jokingly told his publisher that it was ‘patched together from odd bits and pieces here and there’, although in fact he sent him a comprehensive and complete work that still inspires awe. It was published three months after Beethoven's death.
The quartet is structured in seven sections – movements that are joined together and include four 'classical' movements with a fugal introduction and two interludes. The opening, contemplative Adagio, described by Richard Wagner as 'the saddest thing ever said in notes', is followed by a playfully measured movement, and then a short, determined 'recitative' of the strings. The central, slow movement skilfully varies the solemn dance theme, and then the cello jumpstarts a whirlwind Scherzo (Presto), after which the short, 'darker' Adagio introduces the finale, a furious, but most classically composed movement, in sonata form.
Looking for ways to describe this Beethoven’s piece – a task that is never quite complete – some have compared the atmosphere of the Quartet to Shakespeare's Macbeth. The Violinist Philip Setzer of the Emerson Quartet compared it to King Lear: ‘You even have the madness, in the Scherzo and the Finale. When I play the last movement, I feel like I’m galloping through hell!’
String Quartet, Op. 131, belongs to the late period of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most important composers in the history of music. His musical output is traditionally divided into three periods: The first, which ended around 1802 and includes his beginnings, arrival in Vienna, successful piano performances. As early as 1795, Beethoven started experiencing hearing problems, and in 1802 he went through a major crisis due to loss of hearing, which prevented him from performing as a pianist and conductor, and uncertain future. In his middle period, he wrote ambitious, 'heroic' works, and compensated for the isolation caused by deafness with musical imagination and works in which he combined strong, whimsical character with ideals of freedom and brotherly love. Beethoven’s third period, starting from 1812/13, is marked by renewed dedication to music and complex string quartets. Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, 32 piano sonatas, the opera Fidelio and exceptionally important chamber works, one of which concludes this evening's programme.
Founded in 2013, the Arod Quartet skyrocketed to international attention when they won the coveted First Prize at the 2016 ARD International Music Competition in Munich and went on to serve as a BBC New Generation Artist from 2017-2019. Since then, they have firmly established themselves in performance and on recording at the forefront of the younger generation of string quartets by dazzling audiences around the globe.
An exclusive recording artist for Erato Warner Classics, the Arod has released a trio of highly acclaimed, imaginatively programmed, and immaculately recorded albums since their debut Mendelssohn disc in 2017. Their sophomore release entitled The Mathilde Album featured works by three key figures in Vienna’s musical life in the early 20th century – Schoenberg, Zemlinksy, and Webern – and honored Mathilde Zemlinksy (the composer’s sister), who became Schoenberg’s wife and was the dedicatee of his second quartet. Most recently, the Arod released a Schubert album featuring Schubert’s Death and the Maiden together with two other works. Their new album of French music features works by Debussy, Ravel, and Attahir.
Highlights of the 2023-24 season include performances in their hometown at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, as well as performances in Germany, Italy, and Taiwan. Their U.S. tour includes performances for the La Jolla Music Society, Charlottesville’s Tuesday Evening Concert Series, and performances and masterclasses at the University of Florida.
In recent years the Arod has worked very closely with the Ebène Quartet and the Diotima Quartet, and has collaborated with Alexandre Tharaud, Timothy Ridout, Martin Fröst, and Amihai Grosz, the founding member of the Jerusalem Quartet and now the principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic. Directed by acclaimed French filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon, the Quartet’s new documentary Ménage à Quatre chronicles the day-to-day life of the Quartet, following the Arod into a rehearsal with composer György Kurtág.
The group takes its name from Legolas’s horse in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic Lord of the Rings trilogy; in Tolkien’s mythic Rohirric language, Arod means ‘swift.’ Mécénat Musical Société Générale is the Arod’s principal sponsor, and the ensemble is the 2016 HSBC Laureate of the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. The Arod is in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac. Jordan Victoria and Alexandre Vu are loan recipients of composite Stradivari and Guadagnini violins through the Beare’s International Violin Society.
The Arod Quartet is regularly praised by the critics: The New York Times described them as 'ebullient and incisive'. In her 2020 review of their album Mathilde for the Limelight Magazine, Lisa MacKinney wrote: 'Transcendent pieces performed with authority, precision and true emotion.' In 2019, Matthew Guerrieri wrote for the Washington Post: 'The Arod Quartet marries grown-up technique to the thrall and sting of youth, when every passing moment can feel overwhelmingly momentous.'
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Photo (c) Laure Bernard
