August 4, 2012, You Don’t Know JACK ...

… JACK Quartet, that is.

I had heard of them but had never heard them until Saturday afternoon’s Rite of Summer concert on Governors Island. It was quite a full day for me, as I had already done a six-and-a-half-hour volunteer shift at Summer Streets. But hearing this quartet was worth it.

They are a string quartet that brings an energetic edge to both their playing and their repertoire. The outdoor concert opened with “Mantle Eruption” by Brian Baumbusch. The piece opened with explosive strokes passing from player to player, followed by explosive themes being developed. I liked this piece and it was a good opener (apparently the quartet adjusted their order of the program for this, the second concert of the afternoon). I was without a pen for taking notes, so I may report a few things out of order since the performance didn’t follow the printed program.

I particularly liked the next piece—the second movement of “Three Pieces” by Guillaume de Machaut (arr. Ari Streisfeld, one of the quartet’s violinists). As explained from the stage, this piece was written to explore the similarities between the medieval Machaut stretching the boundaries of harmony and form and the current crop of composers doing the exact same thing. The themes resonated with me—I have a real affinity for, and enjoyment of, medieval music. This was a very positive musical experience.

The second movement of Charles Ives’ “String Quartet #2” followed, showing us the early 20th-century version of these explorations. It seems somewhat tame these days, but I bet there was a great hew and cry upon first hearings of the piece.

The other three pieces on the program were: Selections from “Thaw,” Ken Thomson; Quartet version of “Lifeboat No. 6 Tongue in Trees,” Payton MacDonald; and “The Open Road,” David Crowell. One of the composers (and I forget which) was in the audience, as was Mr. Baumbusch. It’s great to be able to hear new works by living composers. All three of the last works were written for JACK. One of them gave me the feeling of Middle Eastern sounds and rhythms, but that might have been just my take. The MacDonald was interesting; having heard that it was originally composed as a quintet with Mr. MacDonald playing the marimba made me wish that I could hear the original version.

The playing throughout was excellent, even taking into account the amplification due to the outdoor setting. I hope to have more opportunities to hear this quartet—I enjoyed this concert that much. And kudos to the promoters for a Rite of Summer concert series. I stumbled upon them last year (their maiden voyage) and I’m glad I’ve been able to hear the concerts of season two.

ConcertMeister