The Marmen Quartet shall be kicking off their North American tour in Toronto on March 13, adopted by Texas and New Orleans earlier than heading again to Europe. The live performance is a part of the Music within the Afternoon sequence on the College of Toronto’s Walter Corridor.
Primarily based within the UK, the Marmen Quartet is: Johannes Marmén, violin; Laia Valentin Braun, violin; Bryony Gibson-Cornish, viola; Sinead O’Halloran, cello. 2019 was a banner 12 months for the younger quartet with double wins of Grand Prize on the Bordeaux Worldwide String Quartet Competitors, and joint First Prize on the Banff Worldwide String Quartet Competitors.
It set their course for a profession that has included in depth touring, in addition to recording. Their 24/25 season contains recitals in Wigmore Corridor, and in Cambridge, UK, Frankfurt, and per week on the Ortús Chamber Music Pageant in Cork, Eire.
Their current launch (January 2025 on the BIS label), titled György Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2; Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 4, is garnering wonderful critiques, with writers noting the power and vitality of their interpretations.
For his or her Toronto afternoon live performance, they’ll be performing Haydn’s Op 33 No. 2 “The Joke”, Bartók 3, Debussy’s String Quartet Op 10, and “Heal” by New Zealand composer Salina Fisher.
The Toronto efficiency is lengthy awaited; it was initially scheduled, after which cancelled, through the pandemic.
We caught up with Johannes Marmén to ask a couple of questions in regards to the ensemble and what they’ll be bringing to their Toronto live performance.
Johannes Marmén: Q&A
LvT: The quartet was shaped in 2013 whilst you have been finding out on the Royal Faculty of Music — did you suppose you’ll nonetheless be performing collectively a dozen years later? To what do you attribute your longevity as an ensemble?
JM: Once we began the quartet, we didn’t have skilled ambitions, we merely wished to benefit from the rehearsal course of and diving deeper into music by Haydn and Beethoven. In a approach, I feel this sense of pleasure in rehearsals and love for the music is what underpins our want to maintain going.
LvT: Your success at two worldwide competitions got here simply earlier than the pandemic shut the whole lot down so far as touring for a while. But, you appear to have recovered your momentum, a minimum of this 12 months. How did you climate the pandemic, and the transition again to reside efficiency?
JM: One of many results of the pandemic was that our 2020 schedule ended up being unfold out throughout a number of years, which was in some ways a great factor. Earlier than the competitions, we had labored extremely onerous and barely seen our households for months, so this pressured sabbatical wasn’t as disruptive as one may think. It was very disheartening work to be consistently coping with cancellations although, and never realizing when issues could be again to was each a psychological and technical problem.
LvT: In regards to the repertoire on your Toronto recital — together with a bit by New Zealand composer Salina Fisher. The quartet additionally commissioned a bit from her through the pandemic. What’s it about this composer that attracts you to her work?
JM: We love how Salina’s musical language communicates immediately and universally, and in addition that we’ve got a private connection to her. She is a childhood good friend of Bryony’s (our viola participant). This explicit piece additionally suits very properly into a wide range of programes which makes it very versatile and rewarding to play in varied completely different contexts.
LvT: So far as different repertoire, the quartet appears to have a variety when it comes to fashion and period. What do you search for in the case of what you want to add to your repertoire? What sorts of works do you take pleasure in?
JM: At any given time we’ve got a backlog of items that all of us love and need to be taught. This choice to some extent displays our preferences or style as a bunch. Extra now than ever although, which of these items is subsequent to make it into our repertoire is determined by issues like recording plans, particular efficiency initiatives or themes in pageant engagements. As a really blanket assertion although, we take pleasure in enjoying items that encourage rigorous dialogue, important quantity of rehearsals and stimulating performances!
LvT: On your current launch on BIS Data, you’ve chosen masterpieces from the twentieth century repertoire for string quartets. Why these items (to place it merely)? What qualities drew you to them? Do you might have a plan for future recordings — i.e. specializing in particular items or durations?
JM: We had been enjoying Ligeti’s first quartet for some time after we began discussions with BIS Data. They beloved our rendition of it in live performance and advised that we construct a debut album round it, and fairly logically we ended up with Ligeti’s second and Bartók’s fourth to finish the disc. There are such a lot of qualities in these items that we love; the rawness, the boldness, the dedication to pushing boundaries of sound and expression. In the case of future recordings we have already got one album prepared for launch in 2026, with Debussy, Takemitsu and Ravel. Additional down the road we’ve got plans on recording Haydn, extra Bartók and hopefully plenty of different thrilling issues as properly!
- Discover extra data and tickets to the March 13 live performance [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.
