Bartók: Contrasts
Gershwin: Lullaby for string quartet
Copland: Sextet
Dvořák: String Quintet in E flat Op 97 ‘American’

Jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman commissioned Bartók’s only chamber piece to include his instrument. Originally played by Bartók, Goodman and violinist József Szigeti, Contrasts explores jazz and the differences in timbre between the instruments.

The manuscript for Lullaby lay on Ira Gershwin’s shelf for many years until harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler transcribed it for harmonica and string quartet and presented it at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1963. The work was premiered in its original form, for string quartet, in 1967.

Notorious for its wicked technical challenges, Copland’s Sextet is imbued with his enthusiasm for jazz rhythms as well as the popular rhythms of the Charleston and Mexican dance.

Spillville, Iowa, is home to an old Czech community where Dvořák spent happy times escaping New York. Here he composed his famous American works including this Quintet nicknamed American.

‘a chamber group beyond compare’ (The Independent)

‘one of the finest chamber music concerts of the season’ (The Washington Post)

www.eif.co.uk/nash

Broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on Wednesday 8 September at 1pm

Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes approximately
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