Berlin Staatskapelle Quartet

The Staatskapelle Berlin String Quartet was created almost a decade ago when its members first performed together in a chamber series presented by Daniel Barenboim – music director of the Berlin orchestra. The quartet members are concertmasters and leaders of the Staatskapelle Berlin, one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. In 2017, the quartet began its series of concerts in Pierre Boulez's new hall in Berlin, presenting all of Franz Schubert's string quartets.


The breathtaking quartet work of the German composer, which Goethe described as sounding like a conversation of four sensible people, requires performance skills and a perfect understanding between the musicians playing it. The members of the Staatskapelle Berlin quartet undertake such a dialogue. For us, "dialogue" means that things arise in the present moment. That some kind of interpretation is not fixed, but that one follows from the other. Then the music is like a good conversation, which is also based on listening and engaging, not some idée fixe. It makes making music exciting and spontaneous – this is how Wolfram Brandl describes working with his colleagues.

In Szczecin, the musicians will perform one of the most famous Schubert quartets: Death and the Maiden". All four parts of the quartet are in a minor key, increasing the feeling of sadness. The major key appears only a few times throughout the work. These moments precisely make the phrases intensified by sadness suddenly even more poignant. The whole quartet seems to vent the composer's despair. No wonder Schubert composed one of the most moving pieces in the history of music when he was struggling with syphilis and depression.

This "strong" quartet accent will be performed last by the Berlin Staatskapelle Quartet. Earlier, the artists from Berlin will present the classics of the genre: Joseph Haydn's String Quartet in F minor and Leoś Janáček's "Intimate Letters" Quartet, a work in its form and inspiration as exciting and exciting as the work mentioned above by Schubert.