Two violins, a viola, and a cello – the same four voices that Beethoven used to compose some of the most profound music of his life are still finding new things to say two centuries later. This program pairs a late Beethoven quartet with music by Paquito D’Rivera and Vijay Iyer – composers who bring jazz, Cuban rhythm, and the grooves of James Brown into the string quartet’s conversation.
The program opens with Beethoven’s String Quartet in E-flat, Opus 127, the first of his five late quartets – works so advanced in their independence of voices that the performers at the 1825 premiere couldn’t quite hold it together. The Jerusalem Quartet performs from Scottsdale Performing Arts Center.
The second half moves two centuries forward with two selections by Paquito D’Rivera – Wapango and Farewell Mambo – performed by the Catalyst Quartet at the Shrine of the Ages as part of the Grand Canyon Music Festival, followed by Vijay Iyer’s “Dig the Say,” a string quartet inspired by the interlocking grooves of James Brown’s music, performed by the Borromeo String Quartet from Katzin Concert Hall at ASU.
