CONCERT

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

september 10, 2020 | a virtual concert experience
PROGRAM

Ariel Quartet 

Gershon Gerchikov, violin

Alexandra Kazovsky, violin

Jan Grüning, viola 

Amit Even-Tov, cello

September 10, 2020 | 5:00 p.m.

A Virtual Concert Experience

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)

String Quartet in B-flat major, op. 76, no. 4, Sunrise (1797) 

Allegro con spirito

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)

String Quartet in G major, K. 387 (1782)

Andante cantabile

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

String Quartet in C major, op. 59, no. 3, Razumovsky (1808)

Menuetto

Allegro molto

This concert is generously supported by The Gottesman 

Fund in memory of Milton M. Gottesman.

This performance was recorded at the University 

of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for the 

National Gallery of Art in August 2020.
THE MUSICIANS

Ariel Quartet 

Distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances, the Ariel Quartet has garnered critical praise worldwide. The Washington Post 

added to this acclaim by noting the Quartet’s “blazing, larger-than-life performance.” 

Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy 

Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel is celebrating its twentieth 

anniversary season in 2020 – 2021. The ensemble was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition 

of artistic achievement and career support. The musicians also serve as the Faculty 

Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, 

where they direct the chamber-music program and present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.

During the 2019 – 2020 season, the Ariel Quartet performed in New York, San 

Antonio, and La Jolla, where they continued their multi-season Beethoven cycle. 

The Quartet spent a week each at the Northwest Bach Festival in Spokane and at the 

Sitka Music Festival in Alaska. Other recent engagements include concerts for Calgary 

Pro Musica, at the Mannes School of Music in New York, for Music Toronto, and at 

the Shriver Hall Concert Series at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. At the Linton 

Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati the Ariel gave the US premiere of the Quintet 

for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov, with the composer as pianist.

The ensemble has dedicated much of its artistic energy and musical prowess 

to the groundbreaking Beethoven quartets, and it has performed the complete 

Beethoven cycle on five occasions in the United States and Europe. The Quartet 

has written a powerful and comprehensive series of program notes on the sixteen 

quartets. The Ariel Quartet regularly collaborates with today’s eminent and rising 

young musicians and ensembles, including pianist Orion Weiss, violist Roger Tapping, 

cellist Paul Katz, and the American, Pacifica, and Jerusalem string quartets. The 

Quartet has toured with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and has performed frequently with 

pianists Jeremy Denk and Menahem Pressler. In addition, the Ariel served as Quartetin-Residence for the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, the Yellow Barn 

Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program, and it served as the Ernst Stiefel 

String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival.
PROGRAM NOTE

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants explores the musical lineage of the three classical 

masters Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven through the lens of the string quartet genre. In 

dedicating ourselves to this music we feel humbled to be standing on their shoulders 

while helping to carry their enormous legacy into tomorrow’s world. String Quartet in 

B-flat major, op. 76, no. 4, Sunrise, by Franz Joseph Haydn is one of the warmest and 

all-around positive works written for the genre. It displays plenty of the surprising and 

humorist qualities we have come to identify with Haydn. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 

String Quartet in G major, K. 387, is the first of his famous set that was dedicated to 

his dear mentor Papa Haydn, and its slow movement functions as the emotional heart 

of the piece. To round things off, and in an effort to highlight the positive aspects 

that the year 2020 still has in store for us, we chose to strike a joyous note worthy 

of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday celebrations by presenting the Menuetto 

and Finale of his String Quartet in C major, op. 59, no. 3, Razumovsky. It is perhaps 

the most exuberant and exciting example of life-affirming music ever composed.

Program note by the Ariel Quartet 
NGA.GOV/MUSIC

Concerts are made possible in part 

through the generosity of donors to the 

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

The department of music produced 

these program notes. Copyright © 2020 

Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington

Cover detail and above Henryk 

Glicenstein, Beethoven, drypoint, 

National Gallery of Art, Washington, 

Rosenwald Collection, 1951.16.44