BIOGR A PH Y

Winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society award

for Young British String Players, the critically-
acclaimed Ruisi Quartet has established a
reputation as a charismatic and expressive
young ensemble that is emerging as one of the
leading British string quartets of its generation.

Founded by British/Sicilian brothers Alessandro

and Max, the quartet perform regularly
throughout the UK and Europe and were winners
of the Kirckman Concert Society Artists award for 2018/19, as well as being recipients of a Career Development
Award from the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2019.

Based in London, the group have given concerts at many leading venues, including the Wigmore Hall, Kings
Place, Royal Albert Hall and Conway Hall, plus appearances in Scotland, Spain, Germany and Austria.
Dedicated to continually exploring and developing, the group have studied with a wide-range of leading
musicians. In 2018, they were selected for an Aldeburgh Chamber Music Residency (working with cellist/
Sunday 29 March 2020 • 6.30pm
conductor David Watkin), and for the IMS Prussia Cove masterclasses with Thomas Adés. In 2016 the group
were Quartet in Residence at the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival, and in the same year were selected as

RUISI QUARTET
Tunnell Trust Award winners. They also attended the 2015 IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses, where they worked
with Ferenc Rados and Rita Wagner. For the 2013/14 season the group were selected for the ‘ChamberStudio’
Mentorship programme at Kings Place, London as well as being invited on to the Artist Diploma in Chamber
Music course at the Royal College of Music. This allowed the quartet to work closely with Simon Rowland-
Jones, whilst also receiving masterclasses from some of the world’s most eminent chamber musicians, including
Gábor Takács, Anthony Marwood and Levon Chilingirian. Most recently, the group have been working closely
with Krzysztof Chorzelski, violist of the Belcea Quartet.
Violin • Alessandro Ruisi
DINE A F T E R T HE CONCE R T NE X T AT CON WAY H A L L
Violin • Oliver Cave
We are pleased to announce that the following SUNDAY 5 APRIL
restaurants will offer an exclusive 20% discount to • 5.30pm Viola • Luba Tunnicliffe
Conway Hall concert-goers on the production of Pre-concert talk with Robert Hugill
tonight’s programme: • 6.30pm Cello • Max Ruisi
Café Rouge • 77 Kingsway Trio Khnopff
Pizza Express • 99 High Holborn Schumann | Fantasiestücke Op.88
Brahms | Trio No. 1 in B Op.8
All restaurants are situated a few yards south of Holborn
Underground Station. To obtain your 20% discount you must Shostakovich | Trio No.1 in C minor Op.8
produce the programme for that night’s concert - the offer Weinberg | Trio Op.24
is restricted to the night of the Concert and applies to food Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated about
purchases only (it does not extend to alcohol or soft drinks). The our future concerts and news.
offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers.

Patrons: Stephen Hough • Prunella Scales CBE • Hiro Takenouchi • Petroc Trelawny • Timothy West CBE
Conway Hall Sunday Concerts are an integral part of the charitable activities of Conway Hall
Conway Hall is owned and operated by Conway Hall Ethical Society • registered charity no. 1156033)
We are hugely grateful to the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust for subsidising free tickets for 8-25 year-olds

conwayhall.org.uk/sundayconcerts conwayhallsundayconcerts chsunconcerts Please turn off all mobile phones and electronic devices • No recording or photography allowed at any time
 PR OGR A MME PR OGR A MME NO T E S

Benjamin Britten (1913-76) The string quartet was important throughout Benjamin Britten’s career with his last string quartet being
his final completed major work. Three Divertimenti dates from the beginning of his career, in 1933
THREE DIVERTIMENTI (1936) [11’] when he was coming to the end of his period of study at the Royal Academy of Music. Intended as
I. March a string quartet depicting his school friends, the work was withdrawn, revised and premiered in 1936
at the Wigmore Hall. The work opens with a lively March, followed by a charming Waltz and ends
II. Waltz with the highly energetic Burlesque.
III. Burlesque
Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A minor was his first mature string quartet, written when he was 18 years
old and just a year after Beethoven’s Opus 135 quartet. By the time he wrote it Mendelssohn, a
Mendelssohn (1809-47) child prodigy, had written a considerable body of chamber music. The influence of Beethoven’s late
quartets is felt in the work, and whilst Mendelssohn’s father agreed with Louis Spohr (see below),
QUARTET IN A MINOR OP. 13 (1827) [30’] Mendelssohn studied all the scores he could. In this quartet Mendelssohn takes the hints of cyclical
form from Beethoven and develops things, using a motif from one of his songs as a unifying theme
I. Adagio – Allegro vivace
and including the title in the manuscript, like Beethoven’s Opus 135, but creating a passionate, richly
II. Adagio non lento romantic work rather different to Beethoven’s.

III. Intermezzo: Allegretto con moto – Allegro di molto
IV. Presto – Adagio non lento
INTERVAL
Refreshments will be available in The Hive
(Please do not bring glasses into the Main Hall)
The motif is presented in the opening Adagio, and themes derived from it appear in all the movements.
The main opening movement is turbulent. The rather earnest slow movement includes a fugal central
section modelled on Beethoven’s Opus 95 quartet, whilst the third movement is a light and airy
intermezzo. The highly dramatic opening to the finale recalls Beethoven’s Opus 132, and the mood
of the opening movement is re-established, with material from the quartet’s introduction returning in
the coda.
Born in Vienna, Webern studied musicology and then took a series of conducting posts. The young
Webern was enthusiastic about the music of Wagner, Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Debussy. Webern
would ultimately take composition lessons from Anton Schoenberg, developing his serial style and
Webern published his Passacaglia as his opus 1.

Webern’s Langsamer Satz for string quartet dates from 1905, before his studies with Schoenberg. It
is said to be inspired by a hiking holiday in the mountains outside Vienna which Webern took with his
Anton Webern (1883-1945) future wife. It was intended to be the first movement of a full quartet, but Webern laid the movement
aside. It is a highly charged piece, building on post-Brahmsian romanticism and tonality, moving from
LANGSAMER SATZ (1905) [10'] yearning to dramatic turmoil to a tranquil peaceful denouement

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
QUARTET IN F OP. 135 (1826) [25’]
I. Allegretto
II. Vivace
III. Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo
IV. Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß (The Difficult Decision). Grave, ma non troppo tratto
(Muss es sein?) – Allegro (Es muss sein!) – Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro
Tonight’s performance will finish at approximately 8:30pm.
Beethoven’s String Quartet in F was the last major work he completed. It was premiered in 1828 after
Beethoven’s death by the Schuppanzigh Quartet (a group which premiered a number of Beethoven’s
Quartets). Beethoven’s final quartets caused puzzlement to his contemporaries, the composer Louis
Spohr referred to them as "indecipherable, uncorrected horrors." but they are now seen as some of
the greatest compositions of all time, pushing quartet form into new areas.
The quartet is on a smaller scale than the other late quartets, written with a lighter touch. The
opening movement is full of sensitive writing and great variety of detail. The Scherzo is in complete
contrast, all vivid fire, suppressed energy and strong syncopations, with a wild trio section. The quiet
slow movement hardly dispels the tension, opting rather for stasis. The final movement originated in a
joke about someone owing Beethoven money. Under the introductory slow chords Beethoven wrote
"Muß es sein?" (Must it be?), responding, "Es muß sein!" (It must be!) and the movement is headed
"Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß" ("The Difficult Decision"). The joke notwithstanding, the movement
makes a slow progression to the light, resolving earlier tensions.
© Robert Hugill 2020