A new series, The String Quartet, produced and presented by musicologist and composer Leo Samama, starts on Sunday 4 Novermber at 14:00 CET.
Leo’s book ‘Het Strijkkwartet’ was published by Amsterdam University Press at the start of 2018 to critical acclaim from both press and public. In the book Samama describes the development of the string quartet from the earliest beginnings to the current day and covers many of the most important compositions that have been written for string quartets. The book is now to be followed by a series of radio programmes produced and presented by Samama himself.
The series follows the structure of the book and provides a more of less chronological overview of the string quartet. However, whereas the book provides a lot of text and just a few musical examples, the radio programmes will be full of music (at least 50 minutes per programme) with just a little spoken word. The expectation is that the series will have 52 episodes, although it may end up being even more.
Samama: “The string quartet is a special and fascinating phenomenon for many. Four stringed instruments, two violins, a viola and a cello, that play together as one. As Goethe famously stated at the beginning of the 19th century: “one hears four rational people conversing with each other”. In his time that was generally four men, and often men from a noble or wealthy background. They came together to make music, eat and drink and to enjoy good conversation. The music that was played was almost always new and unknown, the ink on the paper was often still wet.”
About Leo Samama
Leo Samama is a composer and writer and was the director of the Nederlands Kamerkoor. After studying musicology at the University of Utrecht he taught at several Conservatoria including those in Utrecht and The Hague. He has written many compositions including the Funeral music (opus 65), that was performed during the remembrance service for Prince Claus in 2002 in the Ridderzaal.
The programmes are to be broadcasts weekly on Sunday afternoons at 14:00-15:00 CET and will subsequently also be available on demand via Concertzender.nl.
