Alexander String Quartet
2009-2010 Repertory


NOTES:
1. On a case-by-case basis, presenters may draw on the repertory below to customize programs.
2. All programs, including those here, must be approved through BesenArts before being considered confirmed.
3. Programs as of May 8, 2008 subject to change.

Download Alexander String Quartet programs in PDF format.


Program A — Titans of the String Quartet: Beethoven & Shostakovich
The Alexander String Quartet continues its acclaimed performances of the Shostakovich quartets (Foghorn Classics, 2006-7) as it returns to the Beethoven cycle (Foghorn Classics releases beginning 2009).  These programs explore two of great masters of the form in thoughtful juxtapositions.

Option 1
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat major, Op. 18, No. 6 (1798-1800)
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135 (1826)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73 (1946)

Option 2
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 18, No. 2 (1798-1800)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op. 83 (1946)
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3 (1806)

Option 3: “Fugue”
Shostakovich-Grafilo: Prelude & Fugue No. 15 in D-flat major, Op. 87 (1951)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 9 in E-flat major, Op. 119 (1964)
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Op. 130, with Grosse Fuge finale (1826)

Program B — Fin de Siecle/Nouveau Siecle:  The String Quartet at the Turn of the 20th Century
This program explores the kaleidoscope of compositional style at the outset of the last century.
Webern: Langsamer Satz (1905)
Webern: Five Pieces for String Quartet, Op. 5 (1909)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 1, Sz. 40 (1908)
Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893)

Program C — World War II Commemorative
The Alexander String Quartet, founded in 1981, looks back on its first quarter century with a return to repertory of this moving and thought-provoking program.
Haydn: String Quartet in C major, Op. 76, No. 3 “Emperor” (1797)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (1939)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68 (1944)

Program D — Postcards from San Francisco to Vienna
The Alexander String Quartet relocated from New York to San Francisco in 1991, and since then has focused its new-music performances on California composers.

1st half — Choose any two works of these by composers from the San Francisco Bay Area:
Lou Harrison: Quartet Set (1979)
Wayne Peterson: Jazz Play (1991)
Terry Riley: Mythic Birds Waltz (1983)

2nd half — Choose one work:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3 (1806)
Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1 (1873)
Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 “Death and the Maiden” (1824)

Program D — Mendelssohn & Friends
These programs celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the Felix Mendelssohn’s birth (1809) and feature his work and that of his sister Fanny and his close friend Robert Schumann. There are options for collaboration with piano and viola.

Option 1
Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat major (1834)
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2 (1837)
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80 (1847)
—OR Robert Schumann: Quintet for Piano & Strings in E-flat major, Op. 44 (1842)
          with Roger Woodward, piano

Option 2
Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat major (1834)
Robert Schumann: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 41, No. 1 (1842)
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80 (1847)
—OR Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 87 (1845)
          with Toby Appel, viola

Program F — Fugue
Three works, each featuring a remarkable fugue movement.
Mozart: String Quartet No. 14 in G major, K. 387 (1782)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108 (1960)
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major, Op. 130, with Grosse Fuge finale (1826)