Thalea String Quartet

The San Francisco Conservatory’s new quartet-in-residence, the Thalea String Quartet, presents a recital of works by European masters of the string quartet repertoire. The program begins with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1, one of his earliest string quartet works. Written while the young composer was still very much under the influence of Joseph Haydn, the piece is unmistakably Beethoven, filled with the youthful impetuosity and the groundbreaking spirit that came to define his later work for string quartet. Following the Beethoven is another early work, this time by a giant of the Second Viennese School, Anton Webern. Written before Webern adopted the serial techniques of Schoenberg, Langsamer Satz is a dramatic and emotionally charged work, filled with lyricism and rich textures. The final work on the program is Paul Hindemith’s String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22 a piece that blends romanticism, modernism and jazz while taking the listener through a journey of emotional extremes.