Those who took the risk and came out to see Brooklyn Rider’s program of contemporary string quartet music at the Melbourne Recital Centre were richly rewarded and showed their appreciation with a standing ovation.
While Brooklyn Rider has performed and recorded extensively, this is their first Australian tour; and while Australian audiences may have recognised the two “older” works (by Shostakovich and Dutilleux), they would probably not have heard the four twenty-first century works on the program.
The name Brooklyn Rider, they explained in the post-concert chat, is a nod to the German Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) movement, in which they recognise the same eclectic creativity that characterised Brooklyn’s arts community fifteen years ago when this quartet was formed.
The program opened with A short while to be here by Brooklyn Rider violinist Colin Jacobsen. In homage to the wonder and fragility of planet Earth and the work of American composer and folk musicologist Ruth Crawford Seeger, Jacobsen has created a suite based on animal folk songs, with the title referencing a quote from Little Birdie: “A short while to be here, and a long time to be gone”.
Jacobsen’s setting has woven traditional folk elements – blisteringly fast fiddle and banjo-like riffs, slaps, a lolloping, syncopated bass line and musical “call and response” conversations – into a sophisticated composition, with striking harmonies and some dramatic, free-ranging, improvisatory passages.
An unexpected break (a string on Jacobsen’s violin) during the first item gave violist Nicholas Cords a chance to explain the program’s conceptual framework.
Entitled “The Four Elements”, the program comprises pieces that reflect the four elements that form the physical world – earth, fire, air and water – and, metaphorically, the four parts and “inner workings” of the quartet.
Cords explained how each work was associated with one of the four elements and said they saw the program as “a humble call to action”. They hoped the audience would leave wanting to have more conversations – and find more connections – between these works and the fragile planet they depict.
Hollow Flame – the first of two “Fire” pieces – was written on commission by the young Californian composer, Akshaya Tucker, in the wake of the catastrophic Californian fires in 2018. Tucker has likened Hollow Flame to “a journal entry” recording her own “numbness” as she tried to grapple with the climate crisis and its impact. Knowing this context, the audience could sense – starting with barely audible, subtly shifting harmonics – the mounting tension as the snippets of melody, like sparks and flames, expanded and intensified, with the devastation ultimately marked by silence.
Aere senza stelle (Air without stars) by Andrea Correira, another commissioned work, was inspired by childhood memories of Saharan dust storms (“tempestades de poeira”) according to Phillip Sametz’ program notes. Seeing “a profound poetic connection” between climate change and Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, Correira uses a three-part structure, culminating in what she describes as “a sonic cloud”. The quartet’s assured playing brought out the energy of the clouds; the pizzicato passages suggested swirling dust particles, while the forceful, perfectly synchronised playing in the tumultuous second movement served to heighten the relief when the whirlwind dissipates, “vanishing into infinity” at the end.
The second work for “Air” was Henri Dutilleux’s Ainsi la nuit (Such is the night). This seven-movement work, Cords explained, explores three aspects of the night: romance / lyricism, night terrors and the celestial world. The quartet’s interpretation brought out the wide variety of sounds and textures in Dutilleux’s score.
Shostakovich’s eighth string quartet, written during three intense days in the summer of 1960 while composing a film score on the bombing of Dresden, ignited the second half of the concert. The quartet’s rendition of this well-known work demonstrated their blended sound, perfectly synchronised ensemble playing and their individual and collective ability to make each phrase sound freshly conceived.
The program closed with Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebrae (Latin for Darkness), here also referring to the Easter service in during which candles are gradually extinguished and a great noise (“strepitus”) signals the death of Christ. Golijov presents two perspectives of Earth: the image of a “beautiful blue dot” when seen from afar and the “pain” evident from a “metaphorically closer distance”.
A prayerful melody – initially sombre but ultimately tender, harmonised in the style of a chorale – stretched over an insistent, oscillating drone that sounded a bit like “transmission difficulties” distorting a long-range signal. So it came as no surprise to read afterwards, in Golijov’s introduction to the first edition of this work, that he had set himself “the compositional challenge to write music that would sound as an orbiting spaceship that never touches ground”.
Throughout the evening, the quartet exploited the crystal-clear acoustic of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, producing moments of absolute silence; barely audible harmonics that hung in the air; short, bright sounds that seemed to sparkle; muted phrases and intense, resonant passages that filled the auditorium.
Judging by the applause and post-concert chatter, it was “mission accomplished” for Brooklyn Rider.
Photo credit: Mark Giannavola
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Sue Kaufmann reviewed “The Four Elements”, performed by Brooklyn Rider as part of the Melbourne Recital Centre’s series “Exquisite Classical Experiences 2024” at the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on February 27, 2024.
