Karen announced to a packed studio at the end of Saint Helen’s concert Sunday that we will be hosting a concert by the group next year, around this time! Perhaps they will play Shostakovich’s “String Quartet No. 6″ again — it’s a transcendent piece of music.

The adventurous quartet presented two pieces by composers who attended the concert — Janice Giteck and David Dossett. Video clips of both are embedded below.

Janice Giteck writes in the program notes:

“Ricercare: Dream Upon Arrival came in the first year I started Social Security, a good time to begin composing without pushing out the notes! I intentionally worked for only 1-2 hours at a time and only once or twice a week. The result is rather easy-going, ordinary yet expressive music, formed into several sections. Historically, Ricercare originated in the 16th Century as a quasi-improvised form similar to a toccata. Ricercare, in Italian, literally means “to seek again or search out.” Personally, the title reflects my experience of each section evolving toward, and inevitably resolving into the next section. I really enjoyed composing this piece and thank Paige for inviting me to make something new for the Saint Helens String Quartet.”

David Dossett writes:

“All the Usual Refinements, commissioned by the Cornish College Dance Department, was the result of a crucial turning point in my compositional approach. After discovering, obsessing , and burying myself in the dark, seductive music of the European minimalists, I forced myself to limit a piece to a single, very simple idea, and develop an entire movement around it, much like the music of Arvo Part, or Pawel Lukaszewski. This single movement for string quartet is based on a single motif, which is first repeated, then expanded, and finally echoed cannonically through the entire quartet until reaching it’s natural conclusion of the beginning chord, one octave below.”

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