Works for String Quartet [Les Vendredis]

Les Vendredis – this is what a collection of string quartets by various Russian composers is called, which played a role at the famous Friday concerts of the publisher Belaieff at the end of the 19th century. Among them were illustrious figures such as Alexander Glazunov, Anatoly Liadov or Rimsky-Korsakov. Belaieff, son and heir of a wealthy timber merchant, was passionate about music and played the viola excellently. So it was natural that he had string quartets performed and also composed for his house. Some of these works were published in 1899 – naturally in his own publishing house, which he had founded in the 1880s. The small and also larger works of this collection still fascinate today and are unfortunately heard far too rarely, although today from a music-historical perspective they are considered a catalyst in the development of a Russian musical life and mark a cornerstone of the later so magnificent Russian art music tradition. For a string quartet like the Szymanowski Quartet, which delights its audience again and again with cleverly conceived concert programs, engaging with these exquisite miniatures is both pleasure and passion. Their technical perfection can prove itself in many difficulties, their soulful playing is exactly in place in the lyrical-deep moments of these Russian jewels.