a remembrance of quartets past

I was digging through my ever-growing iTunes library and listening to some old performances by the Ethos Quartet.  We went through three incarnations – each time with a new violinist replacing the previous one.  Denise Huizenga was the constant thread in the violins, with Lisa Hansen, Marty Jennings, and Tyler Neist taking the other chair as the quartet went through its life.

I think that the period where we worked with Marty was the real golden age of the quartet – we played some transformative concerts with him, most notably of music by Shostakovich, and also Thomas Svoboda’s Second Quartet.

Shostakovich’s music continues to fascinate me, mostly because he does so much with so little material, yet it usually comes off not sounding repetitive (unless it’s supposed to sound that way).  It is also amazing in its continuing relevance.  It would make sense, since it is a product of the 20th century, and that century’s history of violence and repression is continuing without an end in sight into the 21st century.

Here’s a movement from Shostakovich’s Ninth String Quartet, performed on November 9th, 2001 at the Old Church, with Marty Jennings, first violin; Denise Huizenga, second violin; Charles Noble, viola; and Heather Blackburn, cello.  The recording was made by Nolan Huizenga.

[audio:shostqt9mvt3.mp3]