Diemen Quartet and Heather Monkhouse

Diemen Quartet and Heather Monkhouse is the second of a series of concerts 'Beethoven and his Contemporaries.' Each program features a seminal Beethoven quartet, and contextualises Beethoven's style and instrumental approach by performing works by other composers of Beethoven's period. This program includes Beethoven's Quartet in C Op. 59. No. 3, written in 1808 and Henrik Crusell's Clarinet Quartet in Eflat Major, No. 1, Op. 2 written around 1807. Crusell was one of the greatest clarinet virtuosi of his time. Born in Finland in 1775 he studied composition in Paris and Berlin. An admirer of opera he translated a number of the most popular operas of his time for their premiere performances in Sweden, including Mozart's le Nozze di Figaro, Beethoven's Fidelio and Rossini's Barber of Seville. Crusell's music is vital, melodious and skilfully written with a Schubertian sense of phrasing that allows the clarinet to shine without compromising the intimacy and conversational interplay amongst strings and clarinet that pervades this quartet.