Ulysses Quartet. June 23, 2024.

Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall, Princeton, NJ.  (Orchestra level, Seat L21, free).

Program

Wild Summer by Joan Tower (b, 1938).

Traditional Folk Songs arr. Danish String Quartet.

   Hur var du i aftes sa sildig

   Unst Boat Song

   The Dromer

String Quartet in E-flat Major by Fanny Hansel Mendelssohn (1805-1847).

Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Artists

Christine Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt, violin; Peter Dudek, viola; Grace Ho, cello.

For this summer we should be able to attend a few of these Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts.  This was the first one.

Per the description in the Program Sheet, this group was formed a few years ago, and has managed to make quite a name for itself.  Listening to their performance today, it's easy to understand why.  Their sounds were clear, they were in sync, the balance was excellent.  I don't know enough about the pieces to comment on how well they were interpreted.

Ruth Ochs, a professor at Princeton, spoke of the pieces (except the folk songs) at the beginning of both halves of the program.  The information might have been useful in my appreciation of the pieces, but too bad I had forgotten most of them by the time I heard the actual performance.  It would take a lot more work, but some written notes would have been useful.

Joan Tower is an 85-year old American composer who was described as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time" in her Wikipedia entry.  This was the first time I heard of her, or her music.  Contrast that with Caroline Shaw and Jesse Montgomery, who seem to appear in many programs nowadays.  "Wild Summer" is a delightful piece that showcases the different instruments of the quartet.

For reasons unclear to me, Ochs referred to Fanny Mendelssohn more by her married name (Hansel).  Mendelssohn was regarded as a great pianist in her days, her compositions have gained more in popularity these days, but - fairly or unfairly - are seldom the central piece of a program.  Today's quartet is quite substantial.  The four movements are Adagio ma non troppo, Allegretto, Romanze, and Allegro molto vivace.

I wasn't aware Beethoven had composed a quartet that was about 50 minutes long (about the same as Eroica).  It is also unusual in that it has five movements: Assai sostenuto - Allegro; Allegro ma non tanto; Molto adagio; Alla marcia, assi vivace; Allegro appassionato.  (And no Allegro con brio!)  The middle movement is 16 minutes in duration, and consists of 5 sections (thanks to Ochs description), and there was no pause between the last two movements.

The folk songs were from Northern Europe, transcribed for a quartet by the Danish String Quartet.  At times the music reminds me of bayou music.  Banerdt, the second violin, described what the folk songs were.

The concert started at 4 pm on a Sunday, another unusual aspect of these summer concerts.  Today was a sweltering hot day, so I was relieved that Richardson Auditorium had adequate air conditioning.  The concert lasted more than two hours, so at intermission I had to go out and feed more coins to the parking meter - Princeton now charges parking on Sundays (1 pm - 8 pm).