Martinů’s string quartets are some of the most representative of the genre in twentieth-century music. Sharon Choa, Dean of the HKAPA’s School of Music, delves into the two Czech composers’ intimate works for strings: Janáček’s String Quartet No 2, “Intimate
Letters” (1928) and Martinů’s String Quartet No 5 (1938). Janáček’s work references the hundreds of letters he wrote to his ambivalent muse, Kamila Stösslová; while Martinů’s is dedicated to the young composer and conductor Vítězslava Kapralova—a former lover who abandoned the relationship for a younger man. Listen to the live music demonstration by APA students’ string quartets of selected movements of the two works and learn about how Janáček and Martinů assimilated a sense of intimacy and obsessional anxieties in their string quartets.

Speaker: Professor Sharon Choa (Dean, School of Music, HKAPA)

Broadcast Date: 10 Mar 2021 (Wed) - 30 Jun 2021 (Wed)
Running time: 55 mins
Language: In English with Chinese & English subtitles

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