Sanctuary St James in Clevedon

New Zealand String Quartet
Sep 17
3 min read

Updated: Sep 18

A cosy oasis to welcome in Spring. We're excited to perform as part of this beloved concert series with a programme of fresh and familiar string quartet works, including our brand-new composition by emerging composer Mika Cornelius.

Sunday 21 September, 7pm | All Souls Church Clevedon, part of the Sanctuary St James concert series

PROGRAMME NOTES

Mika Cornelius

Universal Veil (2025)

Universal Veil takes us on a journey through the quietly remarkable life cycle of a single mushroom - starting from hyphae, the delicate threads that form the foundation of fungi; autumn rain, the seasonal trigger of mushroom growth; spores, scattered through silent eruptions of energy; and returning to mycelium, the intricate web of underground networks. The presence of fungi gently drapes over the earth like a universal veil, blurring the lines of individual and collective. In a world increasingly concerned with individuality, fungi teaches us that the borders of our bodies are less definite than we thought: we host more microbes in our body than our own cells. So where do 'we' end, and where does nature begin?

By Mika Cornelius

To celebrate the premiere of this brand-new composition, composer Mika Cornelius sat down with SOUNZ for a composer kōrero. Head to the SOUNZ website to read the full interview!

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906—1975)

String Quartet No. 4 in D major, Op. 83 (1949)

I. Allegretto

II. Andantino

III. Allegretto (attacca)

IV. Allegretto

Written in 1949, Shostakovich was bearing the repercussions of Formalist denouncement, having been dismissed from his teaching roles at the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories. His attempts to regain favour had been realised through winning the Stalin Prize with a seven-movement oratorio; so too had he represented the Soviet State at the 'Cultural and Scientific Congress for World Peace' in New York.

The Fourth String Quartet aimed to align with Socialist Realism through use of easily accessible tunes and Jewish folk melodies. The result was this restrained work premiered by the Beethoven Quartet in 1950, in the presence of Shostakovich, his wife Nina, and Alexander Kholodilin, head of the music division of the Committee for Artistic Affairs. It was performed twice in that room, but withheld from the public until Stalin’s death in 1953, risking revealing the true mind of the composer.

The first movement, Allegretto, is spacious and welcoming, nonetheless permeated by an ominous pedal in D. In Andantino, melodies rise and fall with a sobbing ta-tum accompaniment. The third, Allegretto, is punctuated by an urgent quaver accompaniment and a twisting melody in the violins. The fourth is folk-like, inviting the audience deep into the inner world of Shostakovich; despite the cheery rhythms, you can sense his disquiet in the irregular harmonies and lonely, soft coda.

by Eden Annesley

Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907)

String Quartet in G minor, Opus 27 (1877 - 78)

I. Un poco andante - Allegro molto ed agitato

II. Romanze: Andantino

III. Intermezzo: Allegro molto marcato - Piu vivo e scherzando

IV. Finale: Lento - Presto al saltarello

Grieg wrote three string quartets, the first of which is lost, and the third never completed, leaving this Quartet in G minor as his only complete composition in this genre. Unusually dense for its time, the quartet uses fortissimo double-stopping across multiple instruments to create a rich, orchestral texture. Elsewhere, Grieg explores subtler sonorities through seamless voice leading, folk-inspired melodies, and dance rhythms, producing a work of striking variety. Franz Liszt, a friend and admirer, praised its originality, and it remains one of the most influential quartets of the late 19th century.

At its core is a motif drawn from Grieg’s Ibsen-inspired song Spillemænd (‘Minstrel’). The tune—beginning on the tonic, descending to the seventh, then the fifth—recalls the opening of his Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, and unifies the quartet’s four movements.

The motif appears in the slow introduction of the first movement, disrupts the waltz-like calm of the Romanze, and opens the Allegro molto third movement before a gentler middle section. It returns in the final movement’s introduction, leading to a lively Presto driven by folk-inspired, saltarello-style dance rhythms, ending the work in a bright G major. Grieg described the quartet as aiming for “breadth” and “vigorous sound,” not fleeting brilliance.