Sirius Quartet (9/7/19)

Beside the Point – Fung Chern Hwei
Knives Out – Radiohead (arr. – Gregor Huebner)
Cavatina – Stanley Myers (arr. – F. C. Hwei)
New World, Nov. 9, 2016 – G. Huebner
#STILL – G. Huebner
To A New Day – F. C. Hwei
More Than We Are – Jeremy Harman

This was the season finale of the Rite of Summer Music Festival, held on Governors Island each summer. The quartet consisted of Fung Chern Hwei, violin; Gregor Huebner, violin; ___, viola; and Jeremy Harman, cello. That’s right, the violist’s name appears nowhere in the printed program. OK, back from an internet search—Ron Lawrence, viola. One of the things I learned about the quartet is that they have a bit of an in-your-face political agenda to their programming. More about that later.

Beside the Point was OK, if a little bit avant-garde. The backstory is that the violinist had cut his finger and couldn’t play his instrument for a while. Instead, he set out to compose a piece that, for him, dealt with many other things that are essentially beside the point. At least that’s my understanding of his explanation.

Knives Out had many repetitive phrases with an almost country twang. Not being a Radiohead fan, I did not recognize the tune. Cavatina began with solo viola that was backed up by the other three players. With the melody shifting to first violin and then second violin, the piece was gentle and moving. This was easily my favorite piece on the program. The song/tune was also used in (or written for?) the film The Deer Hunter. I did not recognize it, either. Thanks again, internet. The song was written for a different movie, The Walking Stick. I had no idea.

New World, Nov. 9, 2016 was overtly political. The piece references a well-known theme from Dvořak’s New World Symphony. You might recognize it if I called it Goin’ Home. Mr. Huebner’s work was filled with political anger as a response to the results of the 2016 election. While interesting enough, for me it went on far too long. But it did win a composition contest sponsored by the New York Philharmonic.

#STILL was a meandering New-Age-y piece that was inspired by the poem and song Strange Fruit. To A New Day was written to honor the new Malaysian government that many worked hard to get voted in. It was modern but pretty listenable and sounded as though it might have incorporated folk tunes.

More Than We Are closed out the concert with lots of bold, full-sounding phrases that were sort of like blocks of sound. Once again, interesting if a little too long.

One thing about the Rite of Summer concerts is that the 1:00pm performance is repeated at 3:00pm. So far, I haven’t felt compelled to attend any of the second performances.

I wore my Rite of Summer t-shirt to all four concerts this season, and I’ll most likely be going back next year for their 10th season.

ConcertMeister