Varian Fry Quartet with Mozart, Shostakovich and Schoenberg

In his expressive Second String Quartet, Arnold Schoenberg addressed a serious marital crisis. A soprano voice with lyrics by Stefan George – performed here by Anna Prohaska – lends the work additional intensity. Schoenberg’s younger colleague Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his harrowing String Quartet No. 8 in response to the bombing of Dresden as a rallying cry against war and fascism. The Varian Fry Quartet opens the concert with a tribute to Bach by Mozart.

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