Recital series opens with eccentrics and innovators

Now in its 28th season, the Strathcona String Quartet is debuting the St. Albert Chamber Music Series with a mixed batch of compositions.

The ensemble, composed of Josephine van Lier (cello), Sarah Woodman (viola) as well as Jennifer Bustin and Shannon Johnson (violins), bring attention to the Great Eccentrics: String Quartet Works by Avison, Beethoven and Brahms.

In addition to traditional repertoire, these four connoisseurs of music take a fresh approach, often performing contemporary works from local composers and commissioned pieces.

For these fine players, reinvigorating the classics is an adventure. The quartet launches the music series on Oct. 3 at Don’s Piano Place paying homage to some of music’s most unconventional composers.

“It is fun for us that they are so different. We approach their music differently from Beethoven to Brahms to Avison and as a string quartet we make it work in its historic context,” van Lier said.

Charles Avison, the least known, is an early music composer from the 18th century. He was an organist, music teacher and composer in Newcastle England. Much like today’s modern freelance musicians, he was a jack-of-all-trades.

“He was a first in a lot of ways. He was the first to start a subscription concert. He was incredibly opinionated and didn’t make a lot of friends. He wasn’t afraid of insulting people,” said van Lier.

She added that the controversial composer even wrote an essay on how Handel was overrated. Unfortunately for the baroque composer, Handel’s compositions survived and gained popularity across the centuries. Avison’s did not.

The quartet performs Avison’s Concerto V in D minor, a lesser work that today would be considered a straight copy of Domenico Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas.

Each of the four movements references a different Scarlatti sonata. It is rewritten and re-scored for string quartet. Avison often reset themes in different tempos and character than the original.

“Today it is considered plagiarizing. At that time, it was considered a compliment. They would steal from each other all the time. Avison’s concerto is basically a transcription from Scarlatti.”

For the Beethoven portion, the quartet selected Opus 18, No. 4, one of the classic composer’s earlier quartets. They chose it because it demonstrates his precocious mastery of the form and the beginnings of his rebellious nature.

“He was starting to go deaf and it was very upsetting. But he could still hear and his orchestrations were spectacular. He was a brilliant musician.”

In Vienna, he was considered a virtuosic performer and improviser in a world controlled by old masters such as Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven had little patience for social niceties and hated to play a subservient role to aristocratic patrons as many musicians of the times did. Instead, all his fury flowed into compositions.

Johannes Brahms was a humbler sort, a man who was careless with his appearance yet very precise with his work.

“He was incredibly critical of his work. He wrote 20 string quartet works, most of which he destroyed. He didn’t think they were good enough.”

The quartet favours String Quartet Opus 51, in A Minor, one of a handful of surviving quartets.

Modern reviewers speculate that the romantic composer may have suffered from a mood disorder such as bipolar, said van Lier.

“He self-medicated with nicotine and caffeine. He was a dark person, but he produced some of the world’s most spectacular music.”

Opening the recital is a performance by 10-year-old violinist Aidan Lai accompanied by his sister Justine Lai.