# Hillborg - Kongsgaard Variations (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Anders Hillborg composed the Kongsgaard Variations in 2006 using the Arietta theme from the manuscript of Beethoven’s last piano sonata, No. 32 as his inspiration and dedicating the quartet to wine producers John and Maggy Kongsgaard (who use a few bars of the Arietta theme on the label of their wine of the same name). The premiere was performed by the Prazak Quartet.
In this set of variations the music floats in a Faurean dreamlike state always with Beethoven’s Arietta theme at the core. As Hillborg explains it's, "as if Beethoven’s music is dreaming about yet another variation of itself....Arietta means ‘little song’, and these opening bars are then cloned and mutated into other ‘little songs’ that occur on several occasions in the piece."
As the piece opens up the first violin takes prominence and then appears later mutated before the happier viola takes over. The next section is where "all instruments sing in praise of wine and music" (do you get the feeling that Hillborg had necked a few glasses whilst composing this)? At around the midpoint the Arietta theme appears for the first time, but it's in disguise, being twisted and pulled and it actually sounds like it's being played backwards (remember when we used to do that with our vinyl)? This creates a really haunting and mysterious effect. After a quick chorale and some flourishes we finally hear the true melody of Beethoven’s Arrietta theme in it's original form (sans piano) before the music distorts again and breaks up into the ether.
Its a quite lovely piece and a fitting tribute to Beethoven's final sonata. There are just 2 recordings that I'm aware of so I'll discuss both but suffice to say that they are both enjoyable recordings in their own right, even if I have a distinct preference for one.

Here's a live performance, from 2019, by the Calder Quartet.






The *Calder Quartet* (not the performance from the video above) sensibly sandwich their studio recording between two Beethoven quartets (op.18/3 & op.131) and whilst that makes sense they adopt a rather more homogenous sound for all compositions which suits the Hillborg far more than the Beethoven. Accents aren't sharp and although shorter than their competitor I found this softened the effect of the quartet. The *Stenhammar Quartet* adopt a slightly more relaxed tempo, in their recording, but actually sound quicker due to greater dynamic changes, better textures and more ebb and flow, on an interesting album of contemporary Swedish string quartet works. It's also excellently recorded in a vibrant, realistic acoustic and the pairings are better played and far more diverse than the Calder Beethoven-based album. Because of all these factors, for now, this is definitely my primary recommendation of this very interesting and enjoyable quartet. I'm sure others will feel differently but whichever you choose I'm sure you'll find this piece very satisfying.


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