Tinalley String Quartet + John Bell Present The Words And Music Of Beethoven

Tinalley String Quartet presents the second concert of its 2016 program, Speak Less Than You Know, a collaboration with acclaimed actor, John Bell.

Blending the sounds of the string quartet with the rich storytelling talents of Bell, Speak Less Than You Know is a musical insight into the complex disposition of one of the most influential composers of all time, Ludwig Van Beethoven. In addition to Beethoven’s musical narrative which is titled Beethoven’s Letters the program also features Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Opus 13 in a minor. 
 
Beethoven’s Letters interweaves the letters and memoirs of Ludwig van Beethoven, including the famous ‘immortal beloved’ correspondence and his Heiligenstadt Testament, read by Bell and interspersed with movements from Beethoven’s String Quartets Opus 18, 74, 131, 132 and 135.

For many, the music of Beethoven is known intimately, yet his character remains a rich tapestry of ambiguities… a lover and philanderer; a man wounded by his faith yet searching for salvation; a child prodigy abused by his father; a father figure at the tender age of seventeen; a man besieged by illness, wrestling with depression.

In Beethoven’s Letters we glimpse a man yearning to be understood by his fellow man, vulnerable through heartbreak.  Through his music we feel the depth of his pain and anguish but above all, his great capacity for love and wonder at the beauty of life.

The program opens with the dramatic Opus 13 Quartet of Mendelssohn in a minor. Mendelssohn wrote the Opus 13 quartet only months after Beethoven’s death, and the impact of Beethoven’s quartets, had a profound affect on the 18-year old Mendelssohn. There is however, another element that shines through in the Opus 13… Mendelssohn had only recently experienced the first tender flushes of youthful infatuation, and the quartet is imbued with a heartfelt sense of poetic abandon.

The Opus 13 Quartet was the first Mendelssohn quartet the Tinalley String Quartet explored in its formative years, and its performance of the Opus 13 at the 9th Banff International String Quartet Competition saw Tinalley walk away with First Prize, making it the first and only Australian string quartet to win a major international string quartet competition.

Bookings: Ph. 02 9250 7777 or sydneyoperahouse.com