Aizuri Quartet
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
November 13, 2021

Strozzi: L’usignuolo, Op. 1 No. 5, arr. Alex Fortes
Strozzi: L’amante modesto, Op. 1 No. 13, arr. Alex Fortes
Young: Memento mori (Phase I)
Alberga: String Quartet No. 1
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127

With a name derived from a particularly vibrant style of Japanese woodblock printing, the Aizuri Quartet cuts a fittingly dynamic stage presence, and made a welcome appearance at Chamber Music Columbus. During their stay in Columbus, the quartet also found time to work with local music students. As a prelude to the evening, a group of high school age string players showed the fruits of their coaching from Aizuri in a performance of the first movement of Haydn’s “Fifths” quartet. The first half of the Aizuri program was particularly inventive and wide-ranging, spanning repertoire from the seventeenth through twenty-first centuries.

The first works performed in fact predate the modern string quartet, namely a pair of madrigals by Barbara Strozzi, both extracted from her first book of works in the medium (Op. 1). Thoughtfully recast for string quartet by violinist Alex Fortes on an Aizuri commission, the present transcriptions afforded the ensemble the opportunity to explore a repertoire otherwise out of scope for a string quartet. Fortes’ skillful use of the quartet deftly imitated the singing of the source material, and both works made for a touching opening statement.

Marked contrast was to be had in the succeeding work as we were fast-forwarded to a 2013 composition by Nina C. Young. Memento mori (Phase I) is the first of four projected works in the series. The Latin title translates to “remember that you will die,” and and its core, this work is concerned with the inevitability of death and the passage of time. It looks towards the past quite literally in interpolating material from Bach’s Art of Fugue, though often buried deep in the intricate fabric of the work. The challenges posed by the rhythmic complexities evidenced the quartet’s tight communication and musical synergy. Ultimately, and perhaps inevitably, the work faded away into the ether. A compelling listen.

Dating from 1993, the String Quartet No. 1 by Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga made for another unfamiliar but engaging selection. Alberga’s impetus to compose the quartet came from a rather unusual source of inspiration: a physics lecture, in this case concerned with the notion that all matter is derived from star dust. Even if the musical content wasn’t engaging (spoiler alert: it was), the work would still stand out for its inventive tempo indications; surely the first movement takes the prize with the wonderfully multilingual marking “Détaché et matellato e zehr lebhaft und Swing It Man.” Indeed, it was performed with a singular propulsive drive. The spectral central movement (“Espressivo with Wonder and Yearning”) was heightened by a yearning, gracious melody from first violinist Emma Frucht, reaching high into the cosmos. The finale (“Frantically Driven yet Playful”) was a wild ride, punctuated by a striking pizzicato section, and matters came to a close by way of a vigorous chordal gesture.

Though a retreat to more standard repertoire, the latter half was no less ambitious in being devoted to the first of Beethoven’s monumental, incomparable series of late quartets (Op. 127). Resonant chords heralded the work before diving into the heart of the opening movement, spacious and elegant but not without appropriate weight. The slow movement, one of Beethoven’s most expansive, was serene and warm, with the quartet drawing out the individual character of each variation. Far from a mere trifle, the excitement of the scherzo was encouraged by sharp dynamic contrasts. In the finale, a jagged opening gesture melted into a graceful theme, buoyant and dance-like, perpetuating a genial atmosphere before a cascading finish ended on a sequence of chords, just as the work began.