{ program notes
St . Lawrence String Quartet
The SLSQ , Geoff Nuttall , violin ; Owen Dalby , violin ; Lesley Robertson , viola and Christopher Costanza , cello , is renowned for the intensity of its performances , its breadth of repertoire , and its commitment to concert experiences that are at once intellectually exciting and emotionally alive . Highlights in 2016 – 2017 include performances of John Adams ’ s Absolute Jest for string quartet and orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic and with Marin Alsop and the BSO , as well as the European premieres of Adams ’ s second string quartet .
The SLSQ ’ s partnerships with Adams , Jonathan Berger , Osvaldo Golijov and many others hve yielded some of the finest additions to the quartet literature in recent years . The quartet is also especially dedicated to the music of Haydn , and is recording his groundbreaking set of six Op . 20 quartets in high-definition video for a free online release in 2017 .
Established in Toronto in 1989 , the SLSQ quickly earned acclaim at top international chamber music competitions and was soon playing hundreds of concerts per year worldwide . The group established an ongoing residency at Spoleto Festival USA and made prize-winning recordings of music by Schumann , Tchaikovsky , and Golijov — earning two Grammy nominations and a host of other prizes — before being appointed ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University in 1999 .
At Stanford , the SLSQ directs the chamber music program and frequently collaborates with other departments including the Schools of Law , Medicine , Business and Education . The Quartet performs regularly at Stanford Live , hosts an annual chamber music seminar , and runs the Emerging String Quartet Program
Leonardo Mascaro through which its members mentor the next generation of young quartets .
St . Lawrence String Quartet is making its BSO debut .
About the concert :
Double Play
T . J . Cole
Born in Athens , Georgia , 1993 ; now living in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
Composer ’ s statement : “ While writing this centennial piece , I was thinking about a lot of ‘ B ’ words : Birdcalls , Baseball , Beyoncé and Baltimore .
I used an audience member ’ s suggestion to celebrate the Baltimore oriole bird , a bird specific to the Baltimore region that is also the mascot for the city ’ s baseball team .
Through the internet , I found audio recordings of oriole calls . I was surprised by the variety of calls that orioles produce , all of them catchy and song-like . I used about eight different oriole calls as rhythmic and pitch material . When listening to this piece , you hear an oriole call playing about 75 percent of the time . Sometimes the birdcall is obvious , but other times it ’ s buried within a larger texture .
As a child in Atlanta , I grew up going to baseball games . There ’ s a lot of starting and stopping in baseball , and I remember being bored when the players were paused . But then , the anticipation would make other parts of the game very exciting . In this piece , I tried to incorporate the idea of short and exciting moments feeling like payoff from longer sections of tension .
Right now I ’ m interested in pulling artistic ideas from elements of modern
T . J . Cole pop music . Good pop production these days is incredibly abstract , creative , functional and deliberate . But the point of a pop song is to create something that people enjoy listening to . So I ended up combining more diverse influences in this piece than I usually do . For example , I was listening to the production of Beyoncé songs while looking at the orchestration of Shostakovich .
I think that as an artist , you have to trust that your audiences want to hear something that goes beyond pleasure . When people are willing to attend a live show , they ’ re looking for deeper substance , whether it ’ s creative , mental or emotional stimulation . I don ’ t think a piece has to lack an element of fun in order to be thought-provoking , because when a piece is fun or entertaining , more people are willing to listen to it . My hope is that Double Play will offer something new for the Baltimore audience to listen to , as well as a fun experience .”
Instrumentation : Three flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , three horns , two trumpets , two trombones , percussion , and strings .
Absolute Jest
John Adams
Born in Worcester , Massachusetts , February 15 , 1947 ; now living in Berkeley , California
Last spring , John Adams conducted the Baltimore Symphony in a program that combined Beethoven ’ s “ Emperor ” Concerto with his own powerful largeorchestra work Harmonielehre . And in October 2007 , he also appeared on the BSO ’ s podium during his two-week residency with the Orchestra to lead Beethoven ’ s Seventh Symphony alongside two other Adams works . The vital connection continues with his Absolute Jest , in which Beethovenian themes and motives are actually incorporated into the score — notably the propulsive rhythms and pounding timpani of the second-movement scherzo of the Ninth Symphony we ’ ll hear later .
50 Overture | www . bsomusic . org