Music in NYC: Bartok, Shostakovich by Ariel Quartet at Aspect Chamber Music Series

Haunted Minds program of music by Bartok and Shostakovich on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 7:30 pm at the Italian Academy of Columbia University; performed by the Ariel Quartet with the illuminated talk by musicologist Nicholas Chong

Aspect Chamber Music Series continues its season with Haunted Minds program. Music by Shostakovich and Bartok will be performed by Ariel Quartet with the illuminated talk by musicologist Nicholas Chong. Chong will dive deep into the circumstances and traumatic experiences that made lasting impressions on the composers. While quite different at their core, those experiences influenced not only composers’ day to day life but also led to an inward search for inspiration.

Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 included in the program is interpreted as a requiem written Shostakovich to himself. In the atmosphere of distrust and political scapegoating orchestrated by Stalin’s regime, Shostakovich came under criticism for the complexity of his compositions and its incomprehensibility by the laypeople of Soviet Union. Rightfully fearing for his life and liberty, Shostakovich wrote String Quartet No. 8 as a musical response to personal crises. It is full of references to his prior works and his musical monogram. The music by both composers reveals a lot about how the confrontation with darkness can ultimately lead back to the light.

Recipient of numerous international awards, the Ariel Quartet is well known to audiences around the globe for the depth of musical interpretation and its passionate performances. The concert on November 14, 2019 will surely be no exception offering a delightful evening for music lovers.

 

Program Information

Bartók – String Quartet No. 1
Shostakovich – String Quartet No. 8                   

 

 

 

Distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances, the Ariel Quartet has garnered critical praise worldwide over nearly two decades. Formed in 1998 in Jerusalem, the Ariel was named the recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. The ensemble serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where they direct the chamber-music program and present a concert series, in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.

Avie Records has recently issued Ariel’s debut recording, which features the Brahms String Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2, and Bartók’s String Quartet No. 1. About the recording, Gramophone enthuses, “Here, on their debut recording, the precision and tonal polish they’ve honed over two decades are on proud display…elucidating the often meaty textures of Brahms’s A-minor Quartet without sacrificing any of its warmth. And in Bartók’s First, they negotiate the rhythmic intricacies of the finale with such deftness that I had the distinct (and delightful) sense of the composer glancing back across the 19th century to Haydn.”

Members of the Ariel Quartet, violinist Alexandra “Sasha” Kazovsky, cellist Amit Even-Tov, violinist Gershon Gerchikov, and violinist Jan Grinning, met in 1998 in a chamber music class at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School for Music and Dance. The ensemble made its official debut in 2000. The Ariel Quartet has received significant support for its studies in the United States from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, Dov and Rachel Gottesman, and the Legacy Heritage Fund. Most recently, they were awarded a grant from the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation.

 

Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2019 at 7.30 pm

Venue: Italian Academy at Columbia University, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue