Our quartet performed the first of two programs for Sound of Arts Festival 2012 on November 28. The concert has been reviewed by David Pearson (please click to see the review).
The program was an interesting mixture of Classic/Romanticism, early 20th century nationalism and contemporary. We started off with Beethoven Op.18 No.1 quartet in F major. As a quartet it was our first Beethoven. With concentrated energy and passion, Beethoven wrote it when he was about our age. I had played it a couple of times but come to think of it, I don't think I had performed the entire quartet in public. But I enjoyed performing it!
The Shostakovich 8th quartet is such a powerful piece. As written in the review, our bows had loose strands which happens every time I play it and I believe that's the way to go. Both the Beethoven and Shostakovich are very standard quartet repertoire and I have played them in many occasions but I already miss playing them. Good news is we are going to play the first movement of the Beethoven again on December 2.
The two contemporary pieces by Yui Kitamura and Crisitna Spinei were very different so that gave more variety to the program. The Kitamura is almost like film score (reminds me of those Japanese short drama series' music) and Spinei is minimalism. I personally really like minimalism and I enjoyed playing it. What is minimalism? Let's take a quick peek of my part here (I blurred it for copyright reason):
The Shostakovich 8th quartet is such a powerful piece. As written in the review, our bows had loose strands which happens every time I play it and I believe that's the way to go. Both the Beethoven and Shostakovich are very standard quartet repertoire and I have played them in many occasions but I already miss playing them. Good news is we are going to play the first movement of the Beethoven again on December 2.
The two contemporary pieces by Yui Kitamura and Crisitna Spinei were very different so that gave more variety to the program. The Kitamura is almost like film score (reminds me of those Japanese short drama series' music) and Spinei is minimalism. I personally really like minimalism and I enjoyed playing it. What is minimalism? Let's take a quick peek of my part here (I blurred it for copyright reason):
Looks like an etude or an exercise? While other three are playing something very similar, you'll hear melodies come out from somewhere... If you are interested in hearing what it is like, visit Cristina's website or hear the master of minimalism, John Adams' recordings on YouTube (my favorite piece is Shaker Loops).
Our quartet recorded Cristina's work Beautiful Back for dance shows back in May. It was in the same style.
Our quartet recorded Cristina's work Beautiful Back for dance shows back in May. It was in the same style.
Anyhow, we will be back at Secret Theatre for another concert on Dec 2. This time, we'll play the first movement of the Beethoven quartet, Spinei, and five pieces by the winners of MuSE Young Composition Competition. They are very talented composers of under 18 and as I judged the competition I was very much impressed with their mature writing and ideas. Some are dance music, fiddle-style music, film score and expressive serious music. Come and celebrate the winners and support the MuSE Quartet!
