KILRENNY PARISH CHURCH

EVENT 11: RAZUMOVSKY 1

Saturday 4 July

12pm, Kilrenny Church, £30 / £20

Approx. 65 mins

Arriaga: Quartet No. 3 in E-flat

Beethoven: Quartet in F, Op. 59 No. 1

Cuarteto Quiroga

Around 1800, when Beethoven wrote his first quartets, he was very much a young man with plenty to prove. But by 1806 when he started to write what we know as his ‘Razumovsky’ quartets he was the internationally famous and acclaimed composer of four symphonies, four piano concerti, an opera and much more besides. In responding to a commission from Count Andrey Razumovsky for three quartets, he moved into a remarkable new sphere of musical ambition. Not only is each of the quartets more substantial and daring than any that went before, some argue that all three should be taken as a kind of ‘mega quartet’. That’s quite a thought, and for ENF 2026, our three resident quartets have come together to offer a day including all three quartets, each paired with music that complements them in different ways. Cuarteto Quiroga present the first Razumovsky alongside music by Arriaga, ‘the Spanish Mozart’, who died before his 20th birthday but left a staggering body of work including opera, symphonies and chamber music. His third quartet owes a debt to Beethoven and also to Haydn.

Cuarteto Quiroga makes its ENF debut this year, and is long established as one of the very finest of quartets. As the New York Times said: ‘Exquisite: precise, perfectly balanced, interpretively fresh performances, couched in consistently warm hues.’ They always take Spanish music with them wherever they go, giving audiences exciting new discoveries alongside their masterful interpretations of the classics.