Muss es sein? – Lucerne Festival Pulse
Schedule
Fri, 15 May, 2026 at 06:30 pm
UTC+02:00Location
KKL Luzern, Concert hall | Lucerne, LU
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Danish String Quartet: Frederik Øland, violin | Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violin | Asbjørn Nørgaard, viola | Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, cello Johann Sebastian Bach: Chorale "Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit", BWV 668
Igor Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet
Igor Stravinsky: "Suite italienne", arranged for string quartet by the Danish String Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach: "Contrapunctus XIV: Fuga a 3 Soggetti" from "The Art of Fugue", BWV 1080
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartett in F major, Op. 135
"Is there a string quartet on this planet that I like more?" Víkingur Ólafsson rhetorically asks. The answer, of course, is no. Formed 25 years ago at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen, the Danish String Quartet has achieved cult status, with a shelf full of awards to match. Most recently, the four "Vikings," as they jokingly call themselves on account of their bearded looks, received the prestigious Léonie Sonning Music Prize. Their hallmarks include electrifying arrangements of Nordic folk music, yet they are equally at home in the classical and contemporary repertoire. Their Festival debut begins, fittingly for Víkingur's programming vision, with Bach. Stravinsky's neoclassical "Suite italienne", heard here in the quartet's own arrangement, also draws on Baroque models. But the title of the concert comes from Beethoven, who inscribed the finale of his last string quartet with a question: "Muss es sein?" ("Must it be?") – and gave his own reply in the lively main section: "It must be!" Just like this concert.
Photo © Caroline Bittencourt
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Where is it happening?
KKL Luzern, Concert hall, Lucerne, SwitzerlandEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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