Photo: philomusicaquartet.com
Philomusica Quartet
Philomusica Quartet
The Philomusica Quartet’s program “American Roots” is in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States and, as violinist Sascha Mandl suggests, invites the audience to reflect on the “nation’s evolving cultural identity through the musical language of the string quartet.”
The Philomusica Quartet is itself a testimony to the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Formed in 2008, violinist Jeanyi Kim is from Canada and of Korean heritage; Alexander Mandl is from Brazil and is of Austrian/European heritage; violist Nathan Hackett is from Milwaukee and of Anglo heritage,; and the guest cellist Shinae Ra, originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina, is of Korean heritage. Diversity sounds great!
The program opens with Samuel Barber’s String Quartet in B minor, Op.11. Composed in 1935-36, he later arranged the middle movement for string orchestra as his popular “Adagio for Strings.” The quartet is a modern romantic piece, lyrical and intense.
The second composition on the program is by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate. Tate is a classical composer who is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. He is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition. In addition to his work with his own tribal culture and tradition he has worked with numerous tribes such as Choctaw, Navajo, Cherokee, Creek, Pechanga, Comanche as well as the Ojibway. Major orchestras across the United States have commissioned and played his compositions. His music can be heard on the HBO series Westworld.
American Indian Images
Tate’s Pisachi (Reveal) String Quartet is composed of six epitomes, or sections, and was originally commissioned to be performed by the ETHEL Quartet’s touring project entitled Documerica which used projections of photographs taken in the 1970s as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Project Documerica.”
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Tate was asked work with images of American Indian from the Southwest. The composition “draws specifically from Hopi and Pueblo Indian music, rhythms and form.” (jaredtate.com blog)
After intermission, the quartet will play Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No, 12 in F Major, Op.96, subtitled “American.” It was composed in 1893 while he was in the U.S. A romantic composition, it flows with folk-like themes easily owned as being American. Dvořák composed it in 16 days while spending his summer vacation in the Czech community in Spillville, Iowa. At that time Dvořák was director of the National Conservatory in New York City.
It’s a fun piece and you can hear for yourself why Dvořák wrote, “When I wrote this quartet in the Czech community of Spillville in 1893, I wanted to write something for once that was very melodious and straightforward, and dear Papa Haydn kept appearing before my eyes, and that is why it all turned out so simply. And it's good that it did.”
And mark your calendars for Philomusica’s final concert of the season, “British Connections,” on April 13 with guest cellist Lynn Kabat and guest clarinetist Todd Levy.
The Philomusica Quartet is in residence at Wisconsin Lutheran College, and the concert is in the acoustically wonderful Schwan Hall on campus. They will perform “American Roots,” 7:30 p.m. February 2 at Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Schwan Hall, 8800 W. Bluemound Road. For tickets, visit www.wlc.edu/box-office/philomusica-quartet.html
