There was a surprise opening to this concert with ten young singers from the Chinese Children’s Chorus. The boys had vests and bow ties, and the girls all had white frilly dresses. They sang a Chinese folk song in honor of the Year of the Pig, as it was Chinese New Year. Fitting therefore to have the Shanghai Quartet in the house.
The concert opened with a Haydn quartet, but not one that I recognized, and it was not as light as what I think of with Haydn.
The second piece was a Hop commissioned “revising” of a quartet first written in 1982. The composer Tan Dun is well know for his Oscar-winning music for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The composer also knows the quartet quite well, and agreed to collaborate while at a party at the violist’s house a year ago. They had asked for a concerto, but he decided to do this instead. He sent many revisions over social media. This was the premiere at the Hop. The composer was unable to be here because he was doing a premiere of his Buddha Passion in Los Angeles. I have to say that I didn’t enjoy this modern piece, although it started to grow on me a bit at the end of the second movement, and with the third movement.
After intermission was the the Beethoven Razumovsky quartet, a beautiful piece that I have frequently listened to. I could have listened to it all night. This is what defines great chamber music.
After the well-deserved ovation, they played a short folk tune Harvest Dance, arranged by Yi-Wen Jiang, second violin.
At the Q&A, we learned that the quartet started 35 years ago with students from the Shanghai Conservatory, right after the end of the Cultural Revolution. The composer Tan Dun was a school mate, although 5 years older. The current group has been together for 19 years, with cellist Nicholas Tzavaras joining in 2000.
Regarding the pieces, Nicholas mentioned that the Haydn piece featured the cello, unusual for him (but I hadn’t noticed). They wanted to play a Beethoven piece, as they have been playing a lot of Beethoven all over the world, and this was one of their favorites. Mine too.