By Brooklynn Wong
The Danish String Quartet is an award-winning and highly sought-after group and they displayed just why, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Frederik Øland, Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, Asbjørn Nørgaard, and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin sat in the round in the intimate Samueli Theater and played the music of Haydn, Mozart, Widmann, and Brahms. Three of the four have played together since they were children, and the group’s uniformity is a testament to that.
The program centered around the juxtaposed themes of the string quartet and the hunt. Some of the pieces were traditional—the lovely, melodic classical music that is conjured up when one ponders that phrase. And other portions stood in stark contrast in their abrasiveness, dystopian sound, and vocalizations.
The connection between the strings and the hunt lies in the horns that were played during a hunt, which were usually played in 6/8 time.
The group has enjoyed recent notoriety, as their album released last September, entitled “Last Leaf,” is one of the top classical albums on Spotify.
The quartet wraps up its California tour in Santa Barbara tonight at Campbell Hall at 7 p.m. before heading to the east coast and then on to Europe.
The Segerstrom crowd was pleased, and an evening with this talented group of Danes makes for a wonderful experience for chamber music connoisseurs and casual music appreciators alike.
