BIOGR A PH Y

The United Strings of Europe (USE) has earned a reputation

for being an ‘ebullient’ and ‘virtuosically expressive’ ensemble
(The Times), delighting audiences across Europe and the Middle
East with its original programming, high-profile collaborations,
and educational initiatives. Into the second season of its New
Horizons International Artist Concert Series at Conway Hall
in London, USE fosters collaborations with celebrated soloists
including violinists Amalia Hall and Itamar Zorman, and flautist Sunday 24 May 2020 • 6.30pm
Sébastian Jacot. Soloists in 2020 include soprano Héloïse Werner
(1 Feb), as well as pianists Simon Callaghan (24 May) and

UNITED STRINGS
Denis Badault (6 June). The ensemble holds annual residencies
at Brummana High School and the American University of Beirut
in Lebanon as well as at the Théâtre Molière in Sète, France,
and gives regular performances in Switzerland. USE will be
releasing its debut CD Something to Tell You in 2020, featuring
world premiere recordings and original arrangements.

Working closely with a number of composers, USE has a track

record of developing audiences for new music by curating
original programmes featuring new and neglected repertoire.
Recent highlights include bespoke arrangements of Gareth Farr’s
OF EUROPE
& SIMON CALLAGHAN
Julian Azkoul, Founder of USE Mondo Rondo and Arturo Corrales’ Mono Espacial, the world
premiere of Houtaf Khoury’s ‘Et le vent qui souffle…’ and of Mateja Marinkovic's Violin Concerto ‘Balkan Tales’,
national premieres of works by Osvaldo Golijov, Matthew Hindson, Stevan Hristic, Cyril Squire, Bechara
El-Khoury and Charbel Rouhana, as well as the world premiere of David Winkler's Double Concerto No. 3
written for pianist Walter Delahunt, violinist Julian Azkoul and the United Strings of Europe. In 2020 USE is
commissioning a new work entitled send back the echo from British-Malaysian composer Jasmin Kent Rodgman
for its Beethoven Anniversary Celebration concerts.

Formed in 2012 at the Royal Academy of Music in London, all the members of the United Strings of Europe are Director • Julian Azkoul
distinguished chamber musicians and principal orchestral players who share a passion for ensemble playing.
The group has developed an important outreach programme which includes innovative workshops tailored to Piano • Simon Callaghan
young people, side-by-side projects with music students, composers and conductors, and work with refugees
and disadvantaged youth in partnership with NGOs and foundations in the UK and Lebanon. Violin 1 • Julian Azkoul, Amy Tress
DINE A F T E R T HE CONCE R T NE X T AT CON WAY H A L L Violin 2 • Ariel Lang, Julia Loucks
We are pleased to announce that the following SUNDAY 31 MAY • 6.30pm
restaurants will offer an exclusive 20% discount to Trio Sora Viola • Michelle Bruil, Cara Coetzee
Conway Hall concert-goers on the production of Haydn | Trio in E minor Hob. XV:12
tonight’s programme: Ravel | Trio in A minor Cello • Raphael Lang
Fanny Mendelssohn | Trio in D minor Op.11
Café Rouge • 77 Kingsway
Pizza Express • 99 High Holborn
Bass • Vera Pereira
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our future concerts and news.

Patrons: Stephen Hough • Prunella Scales CBE • Hiro Takenouchi • Petroc Trelawny • Timothy West CBE
Conway Hall Sunday Concerts are an integral part of the charitable activities of Conway Hall
Conway Hall is owned and operated by Conway Hall Ethical Society • registered charity no. 1156033)
We are hugely grateful to the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust for subsidising free tickets for 8-25 year-olds

conwayhall.org.uk/sundayconcerts conwayhallsundayconcerts chsunconcerts Please turn off all mobile phones and electronic devices • No recording or photography allowed at any time
 PR OGR A MME
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4 IN G OP. 58 (1805-06) [33’]
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante con moto
III. Rondo - Vivace
Jasmin Kent Rodgman
send back the echo (world premiere) [10']
INTERVAL
Refreshments will be available in The Hive
(Please do not bring glasses into the Main Hall)
Beethoven arr. Julian Azkoul
QUARTET IN B FLAT OP. 130 [27’]
I. 1) Adagio, ma non troppo – Allegro
II. Presto
III. Andante con moto, ma non troppo: Poco scherzoso
IV. Alla danza tedesca: Allegro assai
V. Cavatina: Adagio molto espressivo
VI. Finale: Allegro
Tonight’s performance will finish at approximately 8:30pm.
PR OGR A MME NO T E S
In 1803, Beethoven wrote that he was dissatisfied with his work so far, and that year launched his
Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’, starting heroic decade. To come would be the Waldstein and Appassionata
Piano Sonatas, the Razumovsky Quartets, his Fourth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, Violin
Concerto, the Third Cello Sonata, Fifth Symphony, Mass in C, Opus 70 Piano Trios and the Pastoral
Symphony; all before 1808!
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto was premiered in May 1807 at a private concert at the home of
his patron, Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz, with the first public performance in December 1808
at a benefit concert at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien with the Choral Fantasia and Symphonies
No. 5 and 6. This was Beethoven’s last public appearance as a soloist with orchestra. Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung said that it was " the most admirable, singular, artistic and complex Beethoven
concerto ever". But after Beethoven’s death the concerto was rather ignored until Felix Mendelssohn
revived it in 1836.
The first movement opens with a daring coup, the piano playing alone, to which the orchestra
responds. Only afterwards does the orchestra bring out the movement’s first theme. The piano is
the clear protagonist in what becomes a fascinating journey, the stream of consciousness writing
quite far from sonata form, and when piano’s opening material returns at the movements very close
it is something of a surprise. The slow movement is often compared to Orpheus taming the Furies in
Hades, the piano is the still small voice taming the orchestra’s fury. By contrast, the final movement
is far more traditional, a rondo ending in more heroic manner.
Jasmin Kent Rodgman is a British Malaysian composer who was a London Symphony Orchestra
Jerwood Composer during 2017/18, writing music for the orchestra and curating programmes for
them, and she was mentored by Errollyn Wallen and Jude Kelly. Her work focuses on cross-arts
collaboration and interaction, and recent projects have included the VR film Mechanical Souls
directed by Gaëlle Mourre, an official selection at Sundance Film Festival 2019 and selected for
the 2018 Venice Film Festival's Production Bridge.
With Beethoven’s String Quartet in B flat, his 14th quartet, premiered in 1826, we move to his late
period. It is dedicated to Prince Nikolai Galitzin, who commissioned Beethoven’s Op. 127, 130 and
132 quartets. These final quartets caused puzzlement to contemporaries, one commented “we know
there is something there, but we do not know what it is”, whilst the composer Louis Spohr referred
to them as "indecipherable, uncorrected horrors." But his late quartets (the quartets Opus 127, 130,
131, 132, 135 and the Grosse Fuge) are now seen as some of the greatest compositions of all time,
pushing the string quartet form into new areas.
The work is in six movements, opening, dance movement, slow movement, dance movement, slow
movement, finale. After its premiere Beethoven’s publisher persuaded him to replace the original
final movement, the Grosse Fuge, with a shorter, lighter movement. The new finale was one of the
last major pieces Beethoven wrote before his death. The slow introduction repeatedly re-appears
during the first movement, and the second subject group is in the remote key of G flat, approached
abruptly. The scherzo is short and fast, and the third movement is slow and gentle. Whilst this latter is
in the related key of D flat, the fourth movement, an apparently simple Alla danza tedesca, moves to
the remote key of G major. The touching Cavatina is highly charged with emotion, whilst the revised
finale is a sparkling Allegro. We are hearing the quartet in a version for string orchestra created by
tonight’s director, Julian Azkoul.
© Robert Hugill 2020