John Coburn, String Quartet , ca. 1953 (oil on canvas on pulpboard)
Workshop Research-led Performance: the String Quartets of Béla Bartók and Gian Francesco Malipiero
in collaboration with the Quartetto di Venezia and the Bartók Archívum, Budapest
String quartets occupy a key place in the musical oeuvre of both Béla Bartók and Gian Francesco Malipiero. In very distinctive personal ways, the two composers elaborated a concept of the quartet form and sonority that departed from the classical model and forged a new type of expression, often based on traditional folk music. The aim of the workshop is to explore the quartets of Bartók and Malipiero from a twofold theoretical and practical perspective and attempt to highlight possible stylistic and technical-performative convergences. The main focus will be on Bartók’s Sixth Quartet and Malipiero’s Seventh. The workshop will alternate practical aspects of performing and musicological research sessions. The instrumental part will be taught by the members of the Quartetto di Venezia, while the teachers in the musicological sessions will be Francisco Rocca and Lásló Vikárius.