Dvořák
Ensemble Kinari

Ensemble Kinari

Giacomo Del Papa, violin

Alessandro Acqui, viola

Gianluca Pirisi, cello

Flavia Salemme, piano

A. Dvorák (1841-1904)

Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 87

35’ | Admission with museum ticket

The Second Piano Quartet by Antonín Dvořák was composed in 1889, on the eve of his move to the United States, where the Bohemian composer would take up the directorship of the New York Conservatory. At that time, Dvořák was at the height of his European fame: loved by audiences, celebrated by publishers, and respected even by his most demanding colleagues.

Yet in Op. 87 there is nothing celebratory or monumental; instead, one senses a restrained melancholy, a silent premonition of an approaching transition.

The Ensemble Kinari approaches this masterpiece with a sensitivity that avoids any self-indulgence, fully conveying its expressive richness. The first movement opens with a broad, song-like theme of almost Schubertian abandon; the Lento e con moto reaches a rare lyrical intensity even for Dvořák; the Scherzo unleashes the rhythmic, folk-inspired energy of Moravian dance; and the Finale ultimately gathers all contrasts into a luminous and vital gesture.

Few piano quartets possess such immediacy: from the very first bars, the listener is drawn into a music that never loosens its grip until the final chord.

Text by Federica Mastantuono