Eric Ericson Chamber Choir

The outstanding Eric Ericson Chamber Choir has enjoyed a close partnership with Konserthuset and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for many years.

Contemporary Swedish choral music has always been part of the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir’s core repertoire, to the extent that one might say that Swedish choral composition has evolved in parallel and in close partnership with the choir. Here, we will hear e.e. cummings’ trees set to music in a piece by Lars Johan Werle from 1982, and Ingvar Lidholm’s modern classic from 1973 ...a riveder le stelle, to lyrics by Dante. 

In addition to Swedish work, naturally German and French repertoires also have a place of honour on the choir’s programme: we will hear music by Brahms and Poulenc. Poulenc’s fascination with a cappella music emerged after a concert of music by Monteverdi, conducted by Nadia Boulanger, and Sept Chansons from the mid-1930s is one of the earliest examples of Poulenc’s a cappella compositions.

The Quartet that worked side-by-side with Shostakovich.

With over 70 uninterrupted years in existence, the Borodin Quartet is today’s oldest string quartet. Alto violinist Igor Naidin, who has been a member since 1996, says that each new member “hears how the other members play in an easily recognisable style and is immediately absorbed into the tradition.”

Thus the original spirit of the Quartet lives on through the new members. As the British newspaper the Telegraph put it, “Listening to the Quartet play Shostakovich [...], it was impossible to resist an uncanny sense of being taken back to the root of something. [...] It's the refusal to exaggerate, and a pearly, immaculate quality in the balance of the four parts.”

The original Quartet had a close relationship with Shostakovich. The ensemble often played quartets for him, and the members offered advice and feedback before a premiere performance.

Here, the Quartet performs String Quartet No. 6, in which untroubled lightness pours forth, and No. 13, in which Shostakovich navigates a darkly fatalistic musical landscape. Schubert’s Quartet Movement in C Minor is also a dramatic masterpiece that provides an elegant contrast to Tchaikovsky’s atmospheric and melodically beautifully Album pour enfants, Op. 39, originally music for piano.