Igor Stravinsky portrait Photo: Jacques-Emile Blanche, Public Domain
Around 1920, Stravinsky completed a commission for the American 'Flonzaley Quartet' who wanted a contemporary work to add to their almost exclusively classical repertoire.
It’s one of only three string quartets the Russian composer wrote.
And ‘Concertino for String Quartet’ is also one of the most significant of Stravinsky's chamber music works.
In a collection of writings, Stravinsky provides his own little programme note stating that the Flonzaley “asked me to write them an ensemble piece, in form and length of my own choosing, to appear in the programs of their numerous tours. So it was for them that I composed my Concertino, a piece in one single movement, treated in the form of a free sonata allegro with a definitely concertante part for the first violin.”
Recorded 19 May 2018, St Andrew's on the Terrace, Wellington by RNZ Concert.
Engineer: Graham Kennedy
