WINSTON-SALEM, NC – How many concerts have you attended where you heard a world premiere? I think I can count the number of times on one hand (OK, maybe two). But the “Bartók Rebórn,” presented Monday, offered three! The icarus Quartet appeared as part of the Secrest Artist Series, and after wowing the large audience with two brilliant performances of 20th century literature written for two pianos and two percussionists, presented three world premieres written for the same quartet with all three composers present.
The icarus Quartet, founded around 2019, consists of pianists Larry Weng (Wake Forest Music faculty member) and Max Hammond, and percussionists Matt Keown and Jeff Stern. The ensemble, according to the press release, “is committed to performing new works with a studied and convincing interpretation that mirrors the validity of works with performance practices developed over centuries.” That’s just what they did Monday night.
The quartet opened with a powerful playing of Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937) by Béla Bartók (Hungary, 1881-1945). In this 30-minute, three-movement work, the composer “combined the folk rhythms of Hungary and his mastery of classical structures.” What is especially interesting is the unusual scoring of the work: two keyboards and a myriad of percussion instruments including timpani, drums, xylophone, triangle, finger cymbals, a gong, and many more.
Bartók’s piece is not an easy one to categorize. Although laid out in the “traditional” three-movement concerto form of fast-slow-fast, each movement is so much more than the tempo marking. The movement begins with a soft timpani roll ushering in the slow introduction. The pianos respond with a mysterious motive, which is repeated and expanded in several keys with trills. The tempo quickens, leading to the fast section, which breaks through with power and a new motive (most of the rhythms presented by the pianos end up appearing in the percussion instruments). Innumerable changes of tempo and character take place, all of which the four musicians negotiated with almost perfect precision, forcefully or gently, as the case may be.
The second movement, again beginning with percussion, presents in unisons and octaves several motives that are repeated. The middle section contains an example of the composer’s justly famous “night music”: “eerie dissonances providing a backdrop to sounds of nature and lonely melodies.” The finale is a romp with a recurring dance-like section and upbeat episodes, several of which provide contrast before the movement ends softly with percussion.
The performance was about as perfect as one could ask for: superior musicality with nuance, and a commitment to music-making as expressive as possible. This is not an easy work to absorb on one hearing. It is a thorny, complicated, but rich work, worthy of more familiarity.
Up next was the wonderful Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1941) by Witold Lutoslawski (Poland, 1913-94). Originally written for two pianos, this version was augmented by the two percussionists, as arranged by percussionist Marta Ptaszyńska (Poland, b. 1943) and icarus Quartet.
Lutoslawski (like Brahms and Rachmaninoff) used the 24th Caprice for Violin by Paganini to create a set of variations; Lutoslawski’s are a “part humorous parody and part furious display of virtuosity.” Both came through in spades as great foil to the much more serious Bartók score.
The three world premieres were commissioned by the icarus Quartet and funded by the Secrest Artist Series. Each was in some way influenced by Bartók’s Sonata, and all were dedicated to the icarus Quartet. “Hagyaték” was written by Martin Bresnick (US, b. 1946), “Cloak of Night” by Viet Cuong (US, b. 1990), and “Turbo Shift (A Crafter’s Workshop)” by Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon (US, b. 1962).
Hagyaték, as the composer explains in the program notes, is the Hungarian word for “Legacy,” which here includes Bartók and must “also extend and engage the energies of its still vital source.” The 10+ minute work is certainly virtuosic in a 21st century fashion, with lots of syncopated passages and repeated motives. The “orchestration,” of course, was brilliant and included the special sound of bowed finger cymbals.
“Cloak of Night” specifically responds to Bartok’s second movement’s “night music”; “this somber, eerie selection” was the composer’s “point of departure.” Also about 10 minutes long, the work featured asymmetrical meters (like 5 and 7) in a rather repetitive way reminiscent of 20th century minimalism.
In “Turbo Shift” Higdon “built a piece on fragments, progressions, rhythms, and intervallic relationships” derived from the third movement of the Bartók Sonata. Bartók is the “Crafter” of “a complexity of ideas and joy in the making.” Sometimes the musicians seemed to be “doing their own thing,” but would eventually come together in a groove. Occasionally, the pianists would also reach into the piano to pluck or dampen strings for a special effect.
A few words about the set-up of the stage. Bartók gave explicit instructions for how the pianos and percussion instruments were to be placed. Little did he know that in the 21st century, we also can project the live feed of the musicians’ playing on the back wall, which added greatly to the overall effect. The feed was sometimes just the hands of the pianists, or sometimes on a single percussionist. It was a great addition to a stunning evening of “old” and new music.
