4. Sunday Matinée

Antonín Dvořák bid farewell to the United States of America with his String Quartet No. 14 in A flat major. He had begun it in 1895, shortly before leaving the USA after a three-year stay. What he took with him were lasting impressions of the vastness of the country and numerous elements of American music.

Traces of spirituals and the rhythms and pentatonic scales of indigenous American music seeped into his music and remained elements of his late style after his return home.

His String Quartet No. 14 also bears witness to this. The simplicity of its themes and the unforced, light-handed treatment give it a captivating appeal. Our Catori Quartet has chosen two equally dreamlike works to accompany it: Franz Schubert’s Quartettsatz in C minor, D 703, and Mozart’s String Quartet No. 21 in D major.