MiV Home
Church of St. John the Divine
November 26, 2019
The Kronos Quartet have, over the past 45 years, established a presence in "new music" unlike any other ensemble. As a consequence, they have been enormously influential, and it is no surprise that the influence extends to Victoria's Emily Carr String Quartet, who chose to honor that influence with a programme dedicated to the Kronos Quartet.
One significant Kronosian contribution are the many pieces of music — reportedly more than 900 — that have been written for them by the leading composers of the day, including Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Astor Piazzolla, and Steve Reich.
It was a Reich piece written for the Kronos Quartet, Different Trains, that provided the title for the Emily Carr String Quartet's tribute to Kronos, and which formed the entire second half of the concert. This work in three movements features the live quartet and recorded backing of multi-tracked strings, train sounds, and fragments of speech. It's a harrowing work. A sense of excitement established in the first movement, based on Reich's own train trips across the United States as a boy in 1939 to 1942, is up-ended in the second, as Holocaust survivors speak of their experiences during the same period — in Reich's own words, "if I had been in Europe during this period, as a Jew I would have had to ride very different trains." The third movement After the war leaves the listener in an ambiguous and unsettled state...while the war has ended and the age of train travel wanes, there is no return to the naïve mindset of the first movement.
In the capable hands of the Emily Carr String Quartet, Different Trains was quite splendid. Performing with a backing does not leave room for any rubato, but the ensemble worked with spot-on ensemble playing and vivid dynamics and inflections to create a living, breathing rendition of the piece.
The first half of the concert was, to my ears, even more successful. Opening with Arvo Part's Fratres arranged for quartet, the ECSQ had the audience's ears immediately. The piece is fascinating to hear, and even more so to watch performed. The piece lasts roughly 10 minutes, a steady crescendo that slowly and steadily builds. The first violin and viola have most of the action playing the melodic parts, but the 2nd violin has what might be the most challenging part — playing, for the full 10 minutes, a single drone note that runs through the whole piece.
The other pieces in the first half were every bit as fascinating to hear. While most of the pieces — including Astor Piazzolla's Four for Tango (first played by the ECSQ at their first concert together, 14 years ago) and Anibal Troilo's Responso — were excellent, really outstanding was the single piece that wasn't associated with the Kronos Quartet. Imam Habibi wrote Beloved of the Sky for the Emily Carr String Quartet, inspired by Emily Carr's paintings. Some are directly inspired by specific Carr paintings, while others capture the themes the run through her paintings. The music is wonderful, and the quartet's rendition brought it to life. My only quibble is that the programme notes did not included more information about the movements.
While the Kronos Quartet is worth celebrating, we must not overlook the fact that the Emily Carr String Quartet continues to provide audiences with top-flight performances of interesting, challenging, and rewarding music.
MiV Home