a premiere in seattle

On Tuesday night I had the great pleasure to hear the premiere of a new string quartet written by my long time friend Daniel Ott.  I’ve known Dan since he was in high school (then a french horn player in my former youth orchestra in Tacoma).  Now, he’s on the faculty of the Juilliard School and Artist-in-Residence at Fordham University, as well as a husband and a father two two beautiful children.  I’ve had the good fortune to perform quite a few of his works as a faculty performer at the Max Arnoff Viola Institute, which has commissioned several new works from him.  So, it was such a great experience to see his Second String Quartet given its world premiere on the University of Washington’s International Chamber Series concert by the Chiara Quartet.  The quartet is a major piece, around 30 minutes in length, and centers around the concept of loss, inspired by the stories of two great composers who tragically lost young children: Liszt and Mahler.  Composed in an arch form reminiscent of the quartets of Béla Bartòk, it is a piece that isn’t afraid to explore silences and long periods of glacially slow music.  The Chiara Quartet played the premiere with supreme confidence and total dedication – it was a fabulous performance.  The work was flanked by two Beethoven Quartets, which the Chiaras are presenting in a complete cycle at Harvard University this season.  The Op. 18, no. 6 quartet opened the concert, always one of my favorites for its energetic first movement, delightful slow movement theme and variations, cross rhythmic scherzo, and the last movement La malinconia introduction.  I have always thought of it as an early period version of what would be more fleshed out in his late quartets.  The concert concluded with Beethoven’s great op. 130 string quartet with the original Grosse Fuge ending, which was given a ferocious reading of great intensity and emotion.  It was a great evening.