On the 50th anniversary of 25 April, the João Roiz Ensemble is reflecting musically on the dialectic – not always peaceful – of revolution/evolution, presenting works by Beethoven, Lopes-Graça, Schostakovich, Carrapatoso and Puccini that reflect this dichotomy. This conflict can be seen in one of Beethoven’s first quartets – op.18 no4 -, when the composer was still in the grip of the revolutionary fervour that was sweeping central Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. In Schostakovich, on the other hand, we hear the untainted sounds of socialist realism, the new art of the popular avant-garde (the avant-garde of the time); in Lopes-Graça and Eurico Carrapatoso, from different angles, we can feel the gaze towards the deepest musical traditions of a Portugal not yet contaminated by European music, the remains of a pure folklore, which says more about the importance of the permanence and conservation of values and traditions than the revolutionary musical techniques with which they have been treated since the second half of the 20th century; in Puccini we can hear the beauties of a mature European musical art, of a conservative nature, which openly rejects the aesthetic revolutions that appeared at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, a repertoire which, possibly for this reason, is still one of the most loved.
Programme
L. B. Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Quartet op. 18, nº4
– Allegro ma non tanto
– Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto
– Menuetto
– Allegretto – Presto
Fernando Lopes-Graça (n.1906-1994)
Rustic Suite nº2 for String Quartet, on traditional Portuguese themes
– Melancólico
– Danzante
– Scherzoso
– In modo di ninna nanna
– Gaio
Dmitri Schostakovich (1906-1975)
Two pieces for String Quartet
– Adagio
– Allegretto
Eurico Carrapatoso (n.1963)
Seven Old Portuguese Choirs on popular Portuguese themes, for String Quartet
– Canícula (on a popular theme from Miranda do Douro)
– Oriente (on a popular theme from Miranda do Douro)
– Papão (on a popular theme from Beira Alta
– Luz (on a popular theme from Castelo Branco)
– Romaria (on a popular theme from Castelo Branco)
– Júbilo (on a popular theme from Castelo Branco)
– Altar (on a popular theme from Serpa)
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Crisantemi for String Quartet
Dissemination support 
