For our first offering of the year Virtuosi Tasmania are delighted to bring you Ji Won Kim, Jennifer Owen, Nick McManus and Caleb Wright playing a Beethoven String Trio and Smetana's String Quartet ‘From My Life’.

And here they are (clockwise from top left):
Ji Won Kim (violin), Jennifer Owen (violin), Nick McManus (cello) and Caleb Wright (viola).

Program Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Trio in G Major, Op. 9, No. 1

I. Adagio - Allegro con brio
II. Adagio ma non tanto e cantabile
III. Scherzo – Allegro
IV. Presto

Beethoven’s String Trio in G Major is a brilliant and sophisticated work, written in 1797-98 when the young composer was making his mark in Vienna. Part of a set of three trios, Beethoven himself considered these pieces his finest achievements up to that point. Though the string trio format offers fewer voice than a string quartet, Beethoven turns that limitation into an advantage, writing with clarity, inventiveness, and remarkable depth.

The piece opens with a stately Adagio, as if raising the curtain on a theatrical performance. The main Allegro con brio then bursts in with lively energy, full of quick interplay and unexpected harmonic turns. The slow movement, in a distant key, is expressive and songful, shifting between warmth and melancholy. A light, nimble Scherzo follows, full of playful rhythms and contrasts. The finale, marked Presto, is a whirlwind of motion, driving forward with excitement and wit before dashing to an exhilarating close.

This trio shows Beethoven’s growing confidence as a composer, blending elegance with bold, adventurous writing. It’s a work full of charm and sophistication, offering a glimpse of the composer on the verge of his great early masterpieces.

Bedřich Smetana
String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, “From My Life”

I. Allegro vivo appassionato
II. Allegro moderato à la Polka
III. Largo sostenuto
IV. Vivace

Composed in 1876, From My Life is Smetana’s deeply autobiographical string quartet, written in the aftermath of his total deafness. Stripped of the ability to hear his own music, he turned to the intimacy of chamber music to reflect on his life, from youthful ambition to the cruel fate that silenced him.

The first movement is restless and dramatic, capturing his early passion for art, tinged with an ominous sense of foreshadowing. This is followed by a lively polka, an evocation of carefree days spent dancing and composing for Prague’s high society. The third movement is deeply personal - a love song to his first wife, filled with longing and nostalgia.

The finale bursts in with joy and vigour, a celebration of his national identity and creative fulfilment. But suddenly, everything stops. A piercing high E in the violin - Smetana’s own tinnitus - cuts through the music, marking the onset of his deafness. The energy falters, past themes resurface like distant memories, and the quartet fades away, unresolved.

Smetana described this work as a conversation among friends, a deeply personal confession of triumph and tragedy. It remains on of the most powerful and poignant works in the chamber music repertoire.