Music for the Future: The Beethoven Cycle - Part VII: op. 59 No. 2

NOTE: PLEASE JOIN US RIGHT AT 4PM PT/7PM ET FOR OUR PRECONCERT ZOOM WITH THE ARTISTS: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/2020743980?pwd=NlNYeFdBWmw4S2JGSER1UCtVemVGZz09

THE CONCERT WILL BEGIN PROMPTLY AT 4:15PM PT/7:15PM ET.

PROJECT: MUSIC HEALS US is proud to present the seventh of a 16-part digital concert series based on the college-accredited, Beethoven-inspired music composition course being created for incarcerated students. This course, named MUSIC FOR THE FUTURE, is an expansion of our previous 5-day intensive workshops which PMHU teaching artists have given in state and federal prisons for the past five years.

For the seventh installment of this Groupmuse Centerstage series, you will have the opportunity to take part in the ongoing creation of this exciting new digital composition course, experiencing all sixteen of Beethoven's String Quartets in a new and up-close way, and learn how our students compose using the same tools Beethoven used. We hope you'll join us to take a deep dive into the beauty, inspiration, pain, and redemption that are contained within Beethoven's music, while learning how to craft original works through breaking down Beethoven's compositional process.

In this week’s episode we will delve into Beethoven’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2. The second of the three Razumovsky quartets of the composer’s middle period, it is a unique specimen within Beethoven’s oeuvre both in terms of the choice of key, as he wrote only one other piece in the key of E minor, and of emotional trajectory. While most of his minor-key compositions start in a dark mood and end in a heroic major (the fifth and ninth symphony are the most obvious examples), the disturbed and restless quality evident at the very start of the quartet persists throughout the entire piece. The only relief comes at the contemplative second movement, featuring what the composer may have thought of as the “music of the spheres”. We will explore the musical means by which those special characters were achieved and examine the interesting, perhaps sarcastic insertion of a Russian song in the third movement, a nod to the quartet’s dedicatee, the Russian Count Razumovsky.

The full MUSIC FOR THE FUTURE course will launch in Fall 2022 led by PMHU's lead teaching artist and course developer Brad Balliett.

Performers:
Abigel Kralik & Brian Hong, violins
Molly Carr, viola
Andrew Janss, cello

What's the music?

Molly Carr Viola

Brian Hong Violin

Abigel Kralik Violin

Andrew Janss Cello

Attendees

Simon L. Emcee

Martin B.

David H.

Laraine L.

Nancy M.

Judy D.

Linda K.

Jenny K.

Sandra C.

Dana G.

Lindsay B.

Raymond W.

Juliana

Steve B.

Jean H.

Lynne C.

Gail R.

James L.

Andrea F.

Georgia P.

Finkel

Marion S.

Vincent F.

Michelle R.

Isabella S.

Seda

Judith S.

Nancy C.

Thomas A S.

Sally K.