‘Bozarsunday NOB’

Alexei Moshkov, concertmaster of the National Orchestra, together with three other members of the NOB string section brings us Prokofiev’s two string quartets. The First, originally commissioned by the prestigious American Library of Congress, is unmistakeably one of his masterpieces. Reworked and fast passages alternate with slower, more sombre ones. The dark-intense finale, described by some as ‘trance-like’, is some of the most profound music he ever put on paper. He wrote the less well-known Second following a mandatory stay in the Soviet Republic Kabardino-Balkaria during the Second World War. With its jolly, folk rhythms and melodies it is the perfect conclusion to this morning concert.