Divertimenti and quartets

Concert programme

W.A. Mozart – Clarinet Quintet KV 581

1. Allegro
2. Larghetto
3. Menuetto-Trio
4. Allegretto con variazioni

W.A. Mozart – The Divertimento No. 15 in B-flat major (nr. 15) KV 287 – two horns and strings

1. Allegro
2. Tema con variazioni
3. Menuetto-Trio
4. Adagio
5. Menuetto-Trio
6. Andante, Allego molto

Duration

75 min

Warsaw String Ensemble – A group founded by experienced concert soloists and chamber musicians who decided to combine their professional achievements to create a unique ensemble, open to various genres of music.

The ensemble made its debut on August 25, 2019, with a concert of Romantic music (Dvořák, Tchaikovsky) in Warsaw. Since then, the musicians have performed in events such as Artists for the Disabled at the S1 Concert Studio, at Elektrownia Powiśle, in Konstancin-Jeziorna during a Moniuszko-themed concert, at the W. Maliszewski Festival together with Karol Radziwonowicz, and at the Lubartów Musical Autumn Festival with Radosław Sobczak. The artists recorded an album and gave concerts with Izabela Szafrańska in Nowy Sącz and Warsaw. They also recorded an album of Polish music – Nowakowski/Chopin – under the patronage of Polish Radio Program 2. Concerts promoting the album took place at Centrum Łowicka and the Ursynów Cultural Centre “Alternatywy”. The ensemble also performed a Mozart-themed concert at the 23rd Falenica Summer Concert Festival. They have toured internationally as well, performing in Spain (CaixaForum in Barcelona) and Denmark at the Sorø Internationale Musikfestival and Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter.

Concert review:

“(…) When the musicians performed the 19th-century duet for violin and piano by Józef Nowakowski, followed by the composer’s more expansive piano quintet, everything fell into place. The duet featured the ensemble’s only female member – the young and virtuosic violinist Marta Gębska – accompanied by the outstanding pianist Grzegorz Skrobiński […]. It was a magnificent, joyful display of top-level music-making. The same was true of the final piece, a broad, four-movement piano quintet that wonderfully blended slow, sentimental themes with bold, virtuosic passages. The third movement alone, ‘Romance’, was a romantic gem, during which the Polish musicians seemed to bask in the glorious acoustics of the church, and all of us felt a tear well up in our eyes. Flowers from the organizers and an encore of the quintet’s final movement rounded off this richly colored evening with these talented Polish performers.”

— Hans Krarup, sn.dk (Sjællandske Nyheder, Denmark, 2022)