By Kath Gannaway
Shostakovich’s string quartet No 8 in C minor Op 110, is the hero piece of the next Five on Fridays concert series at The Memo in Healesville on Friday, 20 October.
It’s a serious piece of music, written by the Russian composer in Dresden, Germany in 1960 and described as one of the most profound and personal of musical statements by a master of 20th century music.
Orchestra Victoria’s Waratah String Quartet – Yi Wang, Tomomi Brennan, Jason Bunn and Melissa Chominsky will present the piece as part of the ‘Music and Politics: Shostakovich Speaks’ concert.
Concertmaster and violinist Yi Wang describes the piece as ‘remarkable’ and said the quartet is looking forward to playing it in the intimate space of The Memo.
He points out that it is performed more frequently than Shostakovich’s other 14 quartets put together.
Shostakovich wasn’t personally in a good place when he wrote No 8 and Wang says there is some contradiction about his intentions when he was writing it.
“It’s titled for the victims of the fascists and the Nazis but during that time in Dresden he was being pressured by the Russian government who felt he was against Stalin,” he explains.
Concerts were cancelled and a lot of his pieces were forbidden to be played, leading him to be in a very dark place mentally.
He believes the piece can be both a reflection of the political and the personal man.
It’s a heavy piece, but Wang says music doesn’t have to be cheerful.
“It can make us think about feelings and emotions,” he said.
“Shostakovich wrote it with such intensity and people everywhere have different stories and can reflect in their own life how they feel about this piece.
“In a way, it is easy to understand,” he says. “If you listen to it you can feel the brutality of war, but you can also feel the sorrow from his heart and all the emotions.”
The program represents the masterpiece quartets written in three different centuries.
Franz Joseph Haydn’s Opus 77 No 1, written in 1799 – one of the Austrian composer’s most famous pieces, and Czech composer Anton in Dvorak’s American Quarter, written around 1893, provide lighter, more uplifting counter pieces.
Wang said the connection between musicians and audience is what makes the smaller venue concerts special, and whether classical or pop, a live performance is completely different to hearing music on a CD or on radio.
“The audience can feel the body language, can feel the expression or mood the musicians want to present and can easily relate to it,” he says.
And he believes it is the same for the musicians who he said can see the facial expressions, read the body language and communication between audience members and feel a connection.
For many people the regional concerts are the first introduction to live classical music and each piece will be introduced.
“We talk about what they meant to the composer, what they mean to us and what they meant to the era in which they were written so people can use their own imagination to understand the music,” he says.
There will also be a post performance meet and greet with the artists, and Yarra Ranges Council under its Minor Tix program are offering free tickets to people under 26 years of age.
Tickets are $26, $22 concession and Under 26 free. Book at The Memo in Healesville, the Warburton Arts Centre or online at www.culturetracks.info, or phone 1300 368 333.
