OÖ. Monastery concerts: In seventh string quartet heaven with the string quartet Quatuor Ébène

The quartet evening with Quatuor Ébène (translated: ebony quartet) on Saturday in the Kaisersaal of the Kremsmünster monastery as part of the monastery concerts was one of those rare moments of glory in which the programme, interpretation and reception by the captive audience formed a grandiose unit. Also in interaction with the Ukrainian cellist Aleksey Shadrin, who has not stepped in for Raphaël Merlin for the first time this evening, but with intensive commitment and the same virtuosity as Pierre Colombet and Gabriel Le Magadure (violins) as well as Marie Chilemme ( Viola) owns.

It is quartet art at the highest level of this world-class formation, founded in 1999 in France at the Conservatory for Music, Dance and Theater in Boulogne-Billancourt. All the musicians are way above things here, because of their quality they don’t have to worry about technical issues or questions of intonation, but they can put all their energy into interpreting the works without exception. Works that at first glance couldn’t be more different and yet show many connecting lines.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), György Ligeti (1923-2006) and Robert Schumann (1810-1856) combine the perfection of contrapuntal writing on the one hand and an immediately gripping emotionality on the other hand, which is reflected in this splendid reading through the Quatuor Ébène almost increased to a passionate tour de force. The Swiss composer Richard Dubugnon skilfully put together and excellently edited very different Bach movements and rearranged them in his “Secular Suite for String Quartet” with a fascinating sound quality. An ideal introduction to prepare the ideal ground for György Ligeti’s first string quartet. This work, which stands in the tradition of Béla Bartók, goes far beyond that. It already plays with those fascinating soundscapes that make Ligeti’s later work so significant. But it also has exactly that portion of irrepressible passion that, despite the new sounds, captivates and completely emotionalizes the audience.

This grandiose, timeless masterpiece succeeds all the more when the musician collective does not play a single note casually and savors every moment to the full. This also happened with Schumann’s Quartet in A minor, also his number 1 in the oeuvre and with a not dissimilar opening, which also shows contrapuntal skill. And here, too, the Quatuor Ébène catapulted itself into a cosmic free space of interpretive exuberance beyond all technical difficulties.

Conclusion: Plain and simply excellent music, a quartet evening of superlatives.

The next dates of
Upper Austria monastery concerts:


June 24, Lambach Abbey:

Vadym Kholodenko (piano)



30 June, Wilhering Abbey:

Julian Rachlin (violin) & Friends



1 July, Lambach Abbey:

Musical tour

Info: www.stiftskonzerte.at