By Bae Keun-min
Staff Reporter
The celebrated Alban Berg Quartet is playing the final chapter of its 36-year harmonious history with a worldwide farewell concert tour.
The quartet, comprised of violinist Gunter Pichler, violinist Gerhard Schulz, violist Isabel Charisius and cellist Valentin Erben, will appear at the Seoul Arts Center on May 31 to say goodbye for good.
The quartet will be disbanded in June next year.
Featuring Haydn's String Quartet in D Major (Op.20-4), Wolfgang Rihm's ``Grave'' (in memoriam of the former member of the quartet, Thomas Kakuska) and String Quartet in Bb Major (Op. 130, Op. 133) by Beethoven, the concert will be the last chance for the local audience to appreciate the ensemble's special chemistry.
Since its debut performance at the Vienna Konzerthaus in Austria in 1971, the quartet has been a top name among string quartets of the world, winning a reputation as one of the most prolific recording artists.
Their recordings, which both critics and classical fans consider definitive, have won them over thirty major international awards, including the Grand Prix du Disque, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Edison Prize, the first International Classical Music Award, the Japan Grand Prix and the Gramophone Magazine Award.
The ensemble is often said to have set the standards for translation of not only long-lasting pieces by such composers as Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert but also contemporary numbers by Bartok and von Webern, since one of its self-appointed missions was creating the most harmonious interpretation of a wide ranging repertoire from the classical to the avant-garde.
Previous members, who helped the quartet shine for three and a half decades on the international stages, are violinist Klaus Maetzl, and violists Thomas Kakusa and Hatto Beyerle.
Demonstrating the Alban Berg's superlative performances, the quartet has its own concert series at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Opera in Zurich, the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Philharmonie in Cologne and the Alte Oper Frankfurt.
Tickets cost from 40,000 won to 70,000 won. For more information, call (02) 580-1300 or visit www.sac.or.kr.