Chordos String Quartet presents the central concert series of the 2024 season, "Three Sides of You". The concerts will feature string quartets by some of the most significant composers from the European and American continents. Together, the series invites you to reflect on the three states of being human.

The first concert of the series - PRISCILIETI - is dedicated to the search for intimacy, connection with others, sensitivity and the release of the emotional source.

PROGRAM

• Alban Berg. Lyrische suite (String Quartet No. 3, 1926)
• Alberto Ginastera's String Quartet No. 2, Op.26 (1958)

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In 1925, the long-married Alban Berg experiences a secret and passionate 8-day love affair with the equally married Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, which shatters his everyday life. Since divorce was practically impossible at the time, the composer poured out his grief in this six-movement Lyric Suite for string quartet. In the work, Berg has left traces of this forbidden love adventure and clues, including the initials of the two lovers and quotations from recognisable works commenting on the composer's condition. Zemlinsky's lyrical symphony features the phrase, originally performed by a vocalist, "You are mine, my own", as well as the famous opening of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, with its theme of doomed love.

The Argentinean Alberto Evaristo Ginastera is considered one of the most important composers on the American continent during the 20th century. The String Quartet No.2 was commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation in 1958 and premiered by the Juilliard String Quartet at the first American Music Festival in Washington DC the same year. The work marks the composer's third neo-expressionist phase. It is dominated by modern techniques combined with a rhythmic tilt rooted in the Argentine tango. A vibrant and emotional work, the complexity of the piece also makes it a test of the performers' skills.