Monday, July 24, 2023

Rite of Summer Festival (7/22/23)

Dublin Guitar Quartet

Bryce DesnerAhey
Marc MellitsTitan – (Selected Movements TBC)
Wojciech Kilar: Orawa
Gyorgy LigetiInaktelki nóták
Philip Glass: Piano Etudes No. 2, 9 & 20

OK, I knew going in that this would not be in my wheelhouse. I’m not big on guitar music. I’m not that big on modern classical music, either. That said, I liked it better than I thought I would. I’m also not sure that I heard the works listed above in that order, since (even though they announced most of them from the stage), there was not a printed program, and I didn’t have access to the QR code version. I wish this would change.

All of these pieces were composed for groups that were not a guitar quartet—choral, symphony, string quartet, etc. And I don’t know who arranged them.

They were all very similar in structure and form. Lots of frantic strumming interspersed with a few (very few) quieter and more lyrical sections. The frantic strumming meant that there were multiple re-tunings (both between works and between movements within a work). From the website, I learned that I would be hearing eight-stringed and twelve-stringed guitars, but that was never addressed nor explained from the stage.

Am I glad I went? Yes. It’s important for me to expand my horizons. Will I choose more carefully next time? Possibly.

There’s one more concert scheduled for this season, and I hope to be there. I was wearing my Rite of Summer t-shirt (as I always do), was recognized by a co-founder, and was gifted a new t-shirt with an updated logo. I’ll wear the new one to the next concert.

ConcertMeister


No comments:

Post a Comment