Prizewinners' concert: Javus Quartet

The Javus Quartet is 'in the process of developing its very own artistic signature'. This was the verdict of the jury for the Jürgen Ponto Music Prize, which will be presented to the young Austrian-German ensemble at the concert. The programme is also artistically exciting: Haydn's theatrical and large-scale 'Sunrise' quartet and Beethoven's op. 132, two repertoire milestones, meet a new discovery by Hans Gál.

Gál, born into a Jewish-Hungarian family in Austria in 1890, quickly made a name for himself as a pianist in pre-war Vienna, studied composition and was awarded prestigious professorships. However, the National Socialists interrupted his career and Gál fled into exile in Edinburgh. There he established himself as a university professor, but was unable to build on the compositional successes of the 1920s. His music is in the late Romantic tradition of Brahms and Strauss. The early string quartet from 1916, revived by the Javus Quartet, demonstrates his masterful craftsmanship. The restless scherzo and the slow movement, whose brittle lament is reminiscent of Schönberg's early, still tonal chamber music, sound both modern and traditional at the same time.

In co-operation with the Jürgen Ponto Foundation