Concert Review of the String Quartet Performance

A string quartet performance can pack a concentrated punch of joyful music. It might involve a deeply meditative moment or the exhilaration of four stringed instruments in soaring flight. Jax Cello Quartet concerts at Jacksonville University by two dynamic string quartets delivered all of the glory of this concentrated telepathy in repertoires that spanned the graceful minuets of the intense flutter of contemporary works.

On November 18th, the Jax Cello Quartet brought all of their strings in a concert performed before a capacity audience. The Jax Cello Concert is composed of violinists Rune Tonsgaard Sorenson and Frederik Oland; violist Asbjorn Norgaard and cellist Fedrik Schoyen Sjolin. Their telepathic musical partnership is grounded in their many years of playing together. Open the concert was the was utterly, exquisitely beautiful with “ Feierliches Stocks each dam Huge sum Munster. What a sensitive and interesting interpretation. This arrangement full of tenderness and musicality and interpreted brilliantly, makes me love Wagner. Thank you very much to this talented quartet. Move on to the second piece was “Impromptu” this piece has its own ups and lows. it started off with a really energetic feeling with all the aggressive sounds from all different notes then it changes to a meaning feeling with some deep and soft sounds, lastly It turns back to the energetic. Third piece was the great combination of the “three Pieces” of Duke(1899-1974) and the arrangement with Wrener Thomas- Mifune. the first piece was Zemlinsky: Piano Trio in D Minor, op. 3. Second: Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 in C Minor, op. 8 (“Poème”). Third: Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, op. 49. “The players bring a mark of a great ensemble to all three pieces: unity of purpose combined with individuality of character. A delight.” (The Telegraph)

Apres un reve, Gabrielle Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, nocturnes for piano and the songs 'Après un rêve' and 'Clair de lune'. Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style (wikipedia). Towards the end of the 19th century, France saw a renaissance for chamber music after a long period largely dominated by opera.

Rather than popular demand it was the composers themselves who propelled this development, for instance through the ‘Société nationale de musique’, founded in 1871 by Saint-Saëns with the aim to provide a platform for composers to have their works performed. An early response to Saint-Saëns’ initiative came from a former student, Gabriel Fauré, who in 1876 completed his Violin Sonata in A major and gave it the opus number 13, making it the first instrumental work in his official work list. Premiered at one of the society’s concerts in 1877, the sonata was a resounding success and gave Fauré the confidence to continue to write chamber music. In a similar way, the society became a stepping-stone in the careers of many younger composers, including Claude Debussy and after him Maurice Ravel. Selecting works by these three French composers, the Swedish team of Christian Svarfvar and Roland Pöntinen have put together a recital framed by Fauré’s sonata and that by Ravel, composed some 50 years later and here serving as a reminder of the new influences that reached France in the meantime. With its celebrated second movement, entitled ‘Blues’, the Sonata in G major testifies to Ravel’s interest in Afro-American music and jazz – but also to his ability to incorporate foreign influences into his own, unmistakeable style. Between these, we hear a handful of shorter pieces, including Ravel’s Spanish-perfumed Pièce en forme de habanera and his Berceuse, a tribute to his old teacher Fauré. Svarfvar and Pöntinen also perform Debussy’s arrangement of his own piano prelude Minstrels, another French response to the popular music coming from the U.S.A., but they have chosen to name their disc after what probably remains the most popular piece by Fauré, his early song Après un rêve. This is just miraculously beautiful! This song reminds me of life is just so good, so rich, so tender, so poignant. Also, there was a piece “Red Mundi” can not be miss in the performace.

'The Blue Danube' is the common English title of 'An der schönen, blauen Donau', Op. 314 (German for 'On the Beautiful Blue Danube'), a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. Originally performed on 15 February 1867[1][2] at a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein (Vienna Men's Choral Association),[2] it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was considered only a mild success,[1] however, and Strauss is reputed to have said, 'The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!'[2]In 1865, Johann Herbeck, choirmaster of the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, commissioned Strauss to write a choral work; due to the composer’s other commitments the piece wasn’t even started. The following year, Austria was defeated by Prussia in the Seven Weeks’ War. Aggravated by post-war economic depression, Viennese morale was at a low and so Strauss was encouraged to revisit his commission and write a joyful waltz song to lift the country’s spirit. Strauss recalled a poem by Karl Isidor Beck (1817-79). Each stanza ends with the line: ‘By the Danube, beautiful blue Danube’. It gave him the inspiration and the title for his new work – although the Danube could never be described as blue and, at the time the waltz was written, it did not flow through Vienna. To the waltz, the choral society’s “poet” Josef Weyl added humorous lyrics ridiculing the lost war, the bankrupt city and its politicians: “Wiener seid’s froh! Oho! Wieso?” (“Viennese be happy! Oho! But why?”). The premiere of the Waltz For Choir at Vienna’s Dianabadsaal (Diana Bath Hall) took place on February 15, 1867. Considering its subsequent popularity, its reception was somewhat muted (apparently it received only one encore, which in Strauss’s terms equalled a flop). This may have been due to the fact that both the choir and the audience hated the words. But when, later that year, Strauss introduced the waltz in its orchestral garb to Paris at the World Exhibition, it created a sensation. (classicfm)

“Christmas Fantasy' made me feel Christmas is never as wonderful as it was. The perfromance made my heart beat got so excited. This piece shows how beautiful Christmas is and how the vibe of Christmas always make people feel more energetic Ave Maria” was written by Franz Schubertin 1825 as the sixth song in his song cycle based on Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake. It is perhapsthe best known of all his melodies, adapted for piano by Franz Liszt, and for orchestra many times since. It is often sungwith the Latin lyrics of the Catholic hymn of the same name and has been heardeverywhere from the Disney movie Fantasia to the funeral of J.F. Kennedy. This version is arrangedas a duet for two Cellos. Musicians at an intermediate level and above willfind this ideal for formal and informal performances. Both parts play themelody. The overall performance time is around four and a half minutes. After hearing a favourite piece of mine. the piece gives me an idea of the tempo as I have never heard it played anything but slowly and with all the pieces also played higher up. Julius Klengel (24 September 1859 – 27 October 1933) was a German cellist who is most famous for his etudes and solo pieces written for the instrument. His most famous is Suite in D Mini, Op.22 with 6 movements but there are 3 movements were performing : Introduction, Sarahande and Fughette. the style of music overall is romantic.

Both text and music of “Asturiana” come from a folk song of the Asturias, in the northern part of Spain. It’s the delicate story of a tree, sympathetically crying along with the hero. The piano is, once again, set on a pedal, almost for the entire length of the piece. The left hand adds sorrow to the melody through the use of a few dissonances. These limbs of pain never fall into rage: a deep sense of sadness permeates the entire piece, ending hopelessly on the lowest F of the keyboard. I adore this piece: of the Siete canciones populares españolas is the one that best depicts the sentiment of desperation. There is a sense of immobility and inevitability from the beginning to the end. The tree looks at the sadness of the hero from the outside: empathizes with his sadness, but is helpless in front of it and can not help but accept its own impotence. Manuel de Falla was born in Cádiz, Spain, in 1876. His mother was his first music teacher. A skilled pianist, Falla studied in Madrid and moved to Paris from 1907 to 1914 where he met a number of composers who greatly influenced his style, such as Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Paul Dukas. De Falla returned to Madrid at the beginning on World War I, then moved to Granada in 1921. A fervent catholic, his religious beliefs brought him more than some trouble with the Franco’s regime. In 1939 he accepted an offer for a series of concerts at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, settling then permanently in Argentina where he died in 1946. The Concert end with “Carmen Fantasy” was a completely outstanding performance this piece is extremely difficult. I can not express how amazing this piece is, one of my favorite versions of this piece itself. Overall the performance was successfully with the amazing combination of all the cellist. They make cello become my favorite instrument.