Sweet Dissonance
Jenna Sherry, violin · Sophia Prodanova, violin · Elisabeth Smalt, viola · Lucile Perrin, cello
Dissonance—a word that conjures up disagreeable discord. But behind its negative sound, dissonance is the key to music’s ability to move us. Without the emotional tension of dissonance, there would be no pull on our heartstrings.
This programme zooms in dissonance, something we experience in life as well as music. Framing the programme are Webern’s fleeting Bagatelles, which were described by his teacher Arnold Schoenberg as “a novel in a single gesture, joy in a single breath”. Heard in this context, the sunny melodies of Mozart’s famed “Dissonance” Quartet—so named for a single shocking note—reveal deeper layers of poignancy.
The programme reaches peak indulgence in the fin-de-siècle romanticism of Fritz Kreisler’s rarely heard String Quartet (1919). Mozart, Kreisler, and Webern all use dissonance to communicate complex human feelings—but perhaps opening our ears to dissonance in music can even reveal insights into how we understand friction in our everyday human interactions, conversations, and relationships.
Programme includes:
Mozart: String Quartet in C Major, K. 465 “Dissonance” (1785)
Webern: Six Bagatelles Op. 9 (1911-13)
Kreisler: String Quartet in a minor (1919)
