Cantilena

Editorial Review

The music of Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Richard Meale is given the ASQ treatment in its final tour for 2008.

Event Details

Event Type:

Classical Music

Editorial Review

25 November 2008
Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University
16 Russell St, South Brisbane

Three distinctly different yet equally evocative string arrangements form the final program for the Australian String Quartet (ASQ)'s 2008 season. Hearing them out is the music of Richard Meale, Schubert and Tchaikovsky, in a night entitled Cantilena.

The name derives from Cantilena Pacifica by the Australian composer Meale, a tranquil piece that opens the show and is further testament to the ASQ's continuing support of local composers. Its magical, drifting air leads into Schubert's Rosamunde quartet. It too, explains violinist Sophie Rowell, has a tenderness and delicacy to it, but not without a "searching turbulence" underpinning its very current. The night finishes in fiery fashion so well known to lovers of Tchaikovsky; his passionate String Quartet no 1 described by Rowell as "unashamedly Russian".

Rowell is joined by Anne Horton on violin, Sally Boud on viola and Rachel Johnston on cello, who have been playing as the Australian String Quartet since 2006. The quartet has gone from strength to strength since its establishment in 1985, touring extensively throughout Europe and winning more international chamber music competitions than any other Australian ensemble.

Kilian David