Two composers linked by nationality and geography, composing in two very different eras:
Of this 1876 autobiographical String Quartet, Smetana wrote: “The first movement depicts my youthful leanings toward art, the Romantic atmosphere, the inexpressible yearning for something I could neither express nor define, and also a kind of warning of my future misfortune . . . “
Composing in the emerging jazz age, in 1919 Schulhoff wrote: “Music should first and foremost produce physical pleasures, yes, even ecstasies. Music is never philosophy, it arises from an ecstatic condition, finding its expression through rhythmical movement”.
Approx. 65 Minutes with no Intermission
