Date: March 14, 7:30PM
Location: Saint John Arts Centre – 20 Peel Plaza, Saint John
Tickets:
Adults: $20 | Seniors: $15 | Students: $10 | Sistema Students & Faculty: Free
Advance tickets: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/elmcitystringquartet/997406
Program:
Tango Ballet – Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Summa – Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
– Intermission –
String Quartet No. 4, E minor, Op. 44, No. 2 – Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
I. Allegro assai appassionato
II. Scherzo: Allegro di molto
III. Andante
IV. Presto agitato
The Elm City String Quartet continues its season with a contrast of minimalism, romanticism and tango. Piazzolla’s Tango Ballet, an excellent example of nuevo tango, was originally written as a film score for an eight-person ensemble (that included two bandoneons, piano, and electric guitar!). The work was later rearranged for string quartet as a programmatic suite, and features six “film scenes”: introduction, the street, encounter / forgetfulness, cabaret, solitude, and the street again.
Arvo Pärt’s Summa is inspired by Medieval chant and Renaissance polyphony. Summa was originally composed as an a cappella vocal work for four singers. There is a gentle, jaunty lilt to the rocking two-note motif that pervades the work with Baroque regularity, and the repetitions give a spiritual mantra-like dimension to the piece.
Mendelssohn’s Quartet Four is full of virtuosic passion, charming dance movements, and intimate romantic lyricism. While these pieces are from different ends of a spectrum, they all manage to get to the heart of what music is all about, in their own way.