United States Haydn, G. Smith, Dvořák: Isidore String Quartet (Phoenix Avalon, Adrian Steele [violins], Devin Moore [viola], Joshua McClendon [cello]). Cal Performances, Hertz Corridor, College of California Berkeley, 12.10.2025. (HS)
Haydn – String Quartet in B-flat main, Op.76 No.4, ‘Dawn’
Gabriella Smith – ‘Carrot Revolution’
Dvořák – String Quartet No.13 in G main, Op.106
After a couple of minutes of Haydn’s ‘Dawn’ Quartet, it was straightforward to know why the Isidore String Quartet has been turning heads within the chamber music world. Fashioned solely in 2019, these younger musicians exude every little thing that may make a string quartet a joyful expertise. Their unanimity of intent, technical command and distinctively pure sonority plus an absence of idiosyncrasy produced interpretations that felt pure and unforced.
Not that they can’t get severe, because the quieter moments of Sunday afternoon’s go to (the second in two years) to the College of California Berkeley’s Cal Performances demonstrated. This system started with a Haydn quartet nicknamed ‘Dawn’ and completed with a Dvořák quartet that brimmed with invention. However the centerpiece was an 11-minute work by Gabriella Smith from 2015 that mashes up the rhythmic vitality of rock music with swaths of Bach and Bartók and some nods to different modern composers.
Smith makes a great match with this group – her focus in music is to have enjoyable with it. There’s a palpable sense of improvisation even by way of every little thing is written out. The ensemble dug in with gusto on the rhythmic elements of ‘Carrot Revolution’ (a title primarily based on a Cézanne misquote, of all issues). The piece started with violist Devin Moore and second violin Adrian Steele scratching away with percussive sounds I affiliate with tango grasp Astor Piazzolla, whereas Joshua McClendon alternated pizzicato phrases with drumming on his cello as if it had been a conga drum.
That kind of in-your-face sonics settled right down to one thing extra lyrical as Smith’s format of a fantasia advanced. A musical sample would settle right into a groove earlier than morphing nearly imperceptibly into a special episode. At one level the music appeared to reference the chugging rhythms of Steve Reich’s Totally different Trains. At one other, the tempo softened into what felt like a medieval chorale. The musicians dealt with all of it with each grace and specificity. Most of all, they communicated their enjoyment to the viewers.
The identical kind of enthusiasm infused the performances of normal works by Haydn and Dvořák, although the particular items additionally emphasised these composers’ penchant for playfulness.
Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat main, Op.76 No.4, begins with a rising tune rising from contemplative chords that distinction with a full of life Allegro that follows. The music switched forwards and backwards all through the primary motion (which made a pleasant preview for the olio of Smith’s piece) and highlighted the person musicians’ kinds – McClendon’s lithe cello texture, Moore’s lyric contributions on viola and a distinction between Phoenix Avalon’s metallic, edgy first violin sound and Steele’s much less assertive, supple tone
Even higher was the Adagio the place the slow-moving harmonies created a richness that revolved slowly to disclose completely different colours like a kaleidoscope. The Menuetto danced brightly, and the Finale made for a contented fruits.
Dvořák’s String Quartet in G main, which predated the composer’s time in the US, supplied a wealth of jovial tunes and rhythms that saved issues spinning playfully. The piece match properly because the capstone of a program that traded primarily in sunniness. The musicians savored the best way every return of a musical determine comported itself a bit in another way than it had solely a minute in the past, however with out making it too apparent. The outcome was a primary motion that might not assist however really feel recent.
With its overlapping melodies, the sluggish motion was a mannequin of grace, and within the folk-dance third motion the quartet deftly moved between a tune in two to a different in three. Their breathless tempo when the Finale segued into Allegro con fuoco introduced issues to a full of life climax.
The encore, Moore’s association of the early Brahms chorale Geistliches Lied, made for a serene second to high issues off.
Harvey Steiman
Featured Picture: Isidore String Quartet in recital at Cal Performances in Berkeley © Brittany Hosea
