Quartetto di Cremona to Play Schubert at IIC

The Quartetto di Cremona (violinists Cristiano Gualco and Paolo Andreoli, violist Simone Gramaglia, and cellist Giovanni Scaglione) last visited the Italian Cultural Institute (Istituto Italiano de Cultura, IIC) in January of 2017. On that occasion they performed of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 132 string quartet in A minor. That concert made such a deep impression that the following December, when I was preparing my month-by-month account of memorable concerts, there was no question that January would go to Quartetto di Cremona.

As a result I was more than delighted to learn that this ensemble will be making its third visit to San Francisco at the beginning of next month. (Their IIC recital had been preceded by their San Francisco debut having been hosted by San Francisco Performances in April of 2016.) This time the focus of their program will be Franz Schubert, Beethoven’s most worthy successor in the domain of string quartets (not to mention solo piano music). They will play Schubert’s best-known quartet, D. 810 in D minor, known as “Death and the Maiden,” since the second movement is a set of variations on the D. 531 song Schubert had composed with that title.

First page of the original manuscript of Schubert’s D. 810 string quartet (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

The program will begin with three of the twelve relatively short pieces that Lorenzo Ferrero collected under the title Tempi de Quartetto. These were composed between 1996 and 1998; and all of them, divided into two “series,” were recorded by Quartetto di Cremona on the Klanglogo label for an album released in September of 2015. The titles of the pieces that the ensemble has selected for their IIC recital are “To David Huntley, in memoriam,” “Allegro,” and “Slow Rock.”

This concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 7, and will probably last for about two hours. IIC is located in the Civic Center at 601 Van Ness Avenue, Suite F. Admission is free, but registration is required to assure having a place. IIC has created a registration page specific for this event. Anyone who registers may also add the names of a maximum of two additional guests. Those wishing further information may call IIC at 415-788-7142.