BELCEA QUARTET & FRIENDS 1

From Liszt’s Les Années de Pélérinage, Deuxième année: Italie

Sposalizio
Sonetto 123
Après une lecture du Dante

Bertrand Chamayou, piano

Brahms: Sextet No 1 in B-flat, Op. 18

Belcea Quartet
Diyang Mei, viola
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello

The Belcea Quartet returns to ENF with their ‘dream team’ of fellow musicians to play solo, duo, quartet and sextet over the course of the festival. Their starting points are the two sextets by Brahms – big pieces, heroic, tender, ethereal and passionate by turns – just wonderful chamber music. In two concerts (see also Friday 7.30) we hear them alongside virtuoso piano music from Bertrand Chamayou. We hear that Brahms and Liszt had little time for each other (Brahms reputedly fell asleep at a Liszt concert, while Liszt once called Brahms’ music ‘hygienic’) but we think they make a pretty good combination!