ADAM has become an integral part of the Dutch music scene, from festivals to large venues and radio and television broadcasts. During this concert we'll be looking for the limits of the string quartet genre.
Joseph Haydn has been called the father of the string quartet. After he laid a huge foundation for this genre, it became a major task for many composers to compose for the string quartet. John Adams said:
“String quartet writing is one of the most difficult challenges a composer can take on. Unless one is an accomplished string player and writes in that medium all the time—and I don’t know many these days who do—the demands of handling this extremely volatile and transparent instrumental medium can easily be humbling, if not downright humiliating.”
For this show, the ADAM Quartet explores the boundaries of the string quartet genre. Starting at the beginning, in a string quartet by Haydn where you can hear the hunting horns and Lark, to now. How has the string quartet evolved? You can hear that it in John Adams' string quartet and compositions by young composers who are also not afraid to write for the string quartet.