University of Florida Performing Arts

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There will be a pre-performance discussion with members of the quartet at 1 p.m.

The Grosse Fuge was the original finale for Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130. Considered too dense, Beethoven was convinced by his publisher to re-write the ending and the Fuge has mostly stood alone in the centuries since. In this concert, the American String Quartet will perform the piece as the composer originally intended.

Program
Quartet in A Minor, Op. 18, No. 5
Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2
Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130 (Liebquartett) with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133

This performance is a part of a two-season Beethoven Cycle. Begun during the 2007-08 Season, the Beethoven Cycle is a series of concerts that will present some of the best musicians in the world performing Beethoven’s string quartets. The Ying Quartet will perform Sunday, January 11 and the Ebène Quartet will perform Sunday, March 22.

About the American String Quartet

Internationally recognized as one of the world’s finest quartets, the American String Quartet celebrated its 30th anniversary during the 2005–06 season. Highlighting the anniversary was the quartet’s debut in a new series of recordings on the Arabesque label, including quartets of composer Richard Danielpour. Highlights of their 2006–07 season included performances with Guillermo Figueroa, Lydia Artimiw and Edgar Meyer, and a tour of Europe. The quartet was honored to perform a series of retrospective concerts celebrating the Naumburg Foundation’s 80th anniversary, performed by previous winners of the Naumburg Award.

In over three decades of touring, the American has performed in all 50 states and appeared in virtually every important concert hall throughout the world. Their presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim. The 1998 MusicMasters Complete Mozart String Quartets, performed on a matched quartet set of instruments by Stradivarius, are widely considered to have set the standard for this repertoire.

The American’s innovative approach to concert programming has won them a number of notable residencies in recent years, including “Beethoven the Contemporary” at the University of Michigan, “The Six Mozart Viola Quintets” at the Aspen Music Festival with Guarneri Quartet violist Michael Tree (broadcast live nationally via Chicago super-station WFMT), and a recent four-year cycle titled “4-5-6…” at Princeton University, where the quartet performed the complete quintets and sextets of Mozart and Brahms, joined in each concert by renowned guest artists.

Resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival since 1974 and the Manhattan School of Music in New York since 1984, the American has also served as resident quartet at the Taos School of Music (1979 to 1998), the Peabody Conservatory, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Quartet’s diverse activities have also included numerous international radio and television broadcasts, tours of Asia, and performances with the New York City Ballet, the Montreal Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

As champions of new music, the American has given numerous premières, most recently Richard Danielpour’s Quartet No. 4, commissioned by Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, and Curt Cacioppo’s a distant voice calling, commissioned by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Albany Records released their recording of three quartets by Kenneth Fuchs in 2001.

The Quartet’s extensive discography can be heard on the Albany, CRI, MusicMasters, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch, and RCA labels. The Quartet is popular with national radio audiences and has been featured on Minnesota Public Radio’s St. Paul Sunday Morning, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and live broadcasts on WFMT.

Formed in 1974, when its original members were students at The Juilliard School, the American String Quartet was launched by winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award in the same year. Individually, the members devote additional time outside the Quartet’s active performance and teaching schedule to solo appearances, recitals, and master classes.