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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2014 40 THIS WEEK MANOEL Theatre is proud to present the return of the Leipzig Quartet for the second two recitals of the series of concerts featur- ing Beethoven's string quartets. The two dif- ferent recitals will take place on December 1 and 2 at 20:00. Founded in 1988, the Leipzig String Quar- tet is now widely acclaimed as one of the most exciting string quartets on the international chamber music scene. The Neue Züricher Zeitung has described the ensemble as "one of the towering and most versatile quartets of our time". Manoel Theatre's CEO, Ray Attard stated that, "We are extremely privileged to have added such prestigious artists to our list of performers at our national theatre. The plan is to have the Leipzig Quartet present all of Beethoven's string quartets over three seasons". In 2002 The New York Times wrote, "If there is a Leipzig sound, this is it!" Three of its members were first chairs in the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig. After studies with Gerhard Bosse, the Amadeus quartet, Hatto Bey- erle and Walter Levin, the quartet went on to win numerous prizes and awards, such as the 1991 International ARD Munich competition, and the Busch and Siemens prizes. Today, the Leipzig String Quartet per- forms extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, Australia, and Asia, as well as at many of the major festivals. The quartet's almost 90 recordings, spanning from Mozart to Cage and includ- ing the complete works of Brahms, Mozart, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Schubert and the complete Second Viennese School have been met with international critical acclaim. They have brought the group such recogni- tion as the Diapason d'Or and Premios-CD- Compact awards, two nominations for the Cannes Classical Award and the 1999, 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2012 ECHO-Klassik awards. Their recording of the com- plete Schubert quartet literature, a first, are considered by many the most important release for the Schu- bert year 1997. Each of the Leipzig Quartet re- citals at Teatru Manoel includes a different programme; December 1 features String Quartets op.18/2; op.59/3 and op.135 and December 2 features String Quartets op.18/5; op.133 (Great Fugue) and op.127. Each concert starts at 20:00 and is preceded by a pre-concert talk for ticket holders at 19:15. Booking for the two recitals can be made online www.teatruma- noel.com.mt by email bookings@teatruma- noel.com.mt or telephone 2124 6389 More Beethoven from Leipzig String Quartet at Manoel What were your aims when you started the band back in 2005? Back in 2005 we were still kids – 10, 11 and 13-year-olds – and we did it just for the fun and rush of doing music together. We didn't start with any particular aims, it was all about fun and meeting good friends every week for a good jam. How have both your sound and your working methods evolved since then? We started writing and scrapping songs about five years ago in 2009. This went on till 2012 when we de- cided it was time to try recording our first single. So we recorded our first song – 'Shivery' – with the help of our then producer Kennie D' Ugo. We recorded another song called SMO with Kennie. It was in 2013 when Edward gave it a go at record- ing and produced an EP which we released and later removed from the web. We then had a line up change with our then drummer and rhythm guitarist leaving the band, and Les- nich Vassallo joining the band on drums. That prompted a number of changes in both live and studio methods, including the use of sam- ples and electronic sounds. We then released 'Goldrush' as the first sin- gle off this EP, and kept recording all the songs in Edward's garage. How does your new EP represent the way forward for the band? Within this EP the new genre is represented pretty clearly, which I can only describe as a mix of funky elements with somewhat deeper ele- ments. We've already begun writing our upcoming album, and though we'll be taking a cue from this EP, we will definitely be developing fur- ther ideas we've only just skimmed over until now. What is your songwriting proc- ess usually like? One of us generally comes up with the main idea and we then write our individual parts around that. Ed- ward then tends to write the lyrics and together with Margherita final- ises the vocal line. How have you consolidated your various influences over the years? What keeps you going to develop your own sound? We tend to undergo phases when it comes to our influences, which then keeps us evolving and chang- ing. We tend to have our character- istic sounds, which however change adapt to new musical scenarios. How would you describe your dynamic as a band? How do you apportion your time and delegate creative tasks? During rehearsals, we spend our time mostly writing new material. However, when we have a gig ap- proaching, we obviously dedicate most of our time on practicing our setlist. With regards to creative tasks, generally Edward comes up with a riff, a chord progression, and we work the rest out. Each one of us is in charge of our respective sec- tion, with some suggestions being given to each other. Usually, it's the vocal line and lyrics that take up the most time. The vocal line used on the recording is rarely, almost never, the first one written, with a number of versions being written along the way. What do you think of the local musical scene? What are some of the most significant challenges that you face? The music scene at the moment faces the challenge of a lack of di- versity in venues. Apart from that, the sense of competition that some- times seems to build between bands tends to be destructive. However the scene is moving forward and the standard seems to be improving. 'We need more diverse performance venues' The Leipzig String Quartet Jane Doe – at first did music for fun FIMBank p.l.c. is a licensed credit institution regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority and listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. The Bank is a participant in the Depositor Compensation Scheme in Malta. 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