Sometimes less is more. Especially in times of Corona it is particularly important to internalize this wisdom. With this in mind, the Ludwigsburg Festival had to react to the challenging situation in 2020 with smaller ambitions. The limited programme nevertheless had a lot to offer. For example on 26 June 2020 in the Ordenssaal: Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartets Nos. 1, 8 and 15, played by the Mandelring Quartet.

For all those who were not able to experience the concert live, we have good news: SWR 2 will broadcast the recording on Monday, March 8, 2021. 2021. You can listen to it on our Digital Stage or watch the concert in form of a videorecording. It's worth tuning in!

The concert's special atmosphere can also be felt in the recording. After months of abstinence the performance was – for the audience as well as for the artists themselves – the return to the physical experience of live music. This could only inspire the joy of playing even more: The musicians were more than in a long time, the willingness to take absolute risks has never been so self-evident.  In Shostakovich, the Mandelring Quartet has for years been the benchmark reference.

From a surprisingly light-hearted first work the ensemble led the audience through the personal crises of a composer's life. In the String Quartet No. 8 – one of the most autobiographical ones – Shostakovich artfully incorporates the sequence of notes d-es-c-b, his personal signature (D.SCH). The almost incompatible combination of lyrical pain and smug grotesqueness surprises each time anew in this music. In the last quartet, the theme is finally death in a consistently slow tempo and an atmosphere of emptiness. It is hard to believe that the composer's entire life was recreated musically and biographically in just one concert evening. May this performance be followed by numerous projects. In any case, the Mandelring Quartet will be a guest at the 2022 Ludwigsburg Festival. We are excited and already looking forward to it!