Brahms: String Quartet No. 3 op. 67, Martucci: Quintet for Piano and Strings

The concert at the Auditorium Parco della Musica features the Quartetto Indaco, one of the most promising young groups on the Italian and European scene, together with Michele Campanella on piano, to perform a rather rare piece: the Quintet for piano and strings by Giuseppe Martucci, one of the most interesting composers of instrumental music of the 19th century, also nicknamed the “Italian Brahms” for his closeness to the German Romantic tradition. In the first part of the program, Johannes Brahms’ String Quartet No. 3 is also performed.

The String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, opus 67, is the third and last string quartet by Johannes Brahms. Begun in 1875 in Vienna, two years after his previous quartets, it was completed in 1876. The composition consists of four movements: the exuberant initial Vivace, characterized by a diversity of tempi; the Andante, which resumes the Brahmsian style in its melodic line; the third movement – ​​Agitato – is instead characterized by dance motifs and accents, in a poetic climate. Finally, in the last movement – ​​Poco Allegretto with variations – rhapsodic in its vaguely Magyar motifs, Brahms displays all his skill in the variations, an art of which he was the undisputed master.

Photo credits: the Auditorium Parco della Musica official site