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CD Single: Sachs & Kondonassis in Kernis’ Elegy…for those we lost (Azica)

by Daniel Hathaway

When British musicians have needed a piece of memorial music, their choice since the turn of the 20th century has often been the “Nimrod” movement from Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, or Henry Walford Davies’ A Solemn Melody.

Since 1935 when it was born as the second movement of his Op. 11 String Quartet, Americans have frequently turned to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, a piece the composer later texted with the words of the Agnus Dei and re-published for unaccompanied chorus.

A more recent and very personal entry into the category of musical laments is Aaron Jay Kernis’s Elegy…for those we lost, originally a piano piece composed after the composer had contracted and recovered from COVID-19. He has written, “I strived to create music to counterpoint the terrible pandemic and honor the dead — to try to give some measure of solace to families by sharing a personal expression of grief.”

[Read on…]

CD Review — Verona Quartet: Diffusion

by Cait Winston

In their debut album Diffusion, the Verona Quartet celebrates folk music’s influence on string quartet language at the beginning of the 20th century — a style that reflects their values as an international ensemble with members hailing from all across the globe.

In a statement on their website, violinists Jonathan Ong (Singapore) and Dorothy Ro, (Canada), violist Abigail Rojansky (U.S.A.), and cellist Jonathan Dormand (U.K.) establish the idea of “cultural migration” as central to their identity as a quartet. They describe Diffusion as embracing “the spirit of intercultural exploration that permeates many of the great works of the string quartet canon.”

[Read on…]

Buoyed into the evening:
30 minutes of No Exit (Aug. 27)

by Jarrett Hoffman

By unofficial consensus, it’s best when virtual concerts wrap up in under an hour. The new music ensemble No Exit took that idea to another level on Friday, August 27 with a pre-recorded video of less than half that length.

In person, that might feel like an abrupt end to your plans for the night, given the effort needed to find some decent clothes and squeal out the driveway. But at home on Friday, when the concert was over, I felt refreshed in a way I didn’t expect. While full-length concerts can take something out of you energy-wise, here I felt almost buoyed into the rest of the evening.

[Read on…]

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