“At one point during our recording session, Ben’s bow exploded!” Calder Quartet violist Jonathan Moerschel tells us of first violinist Benjamin Jacobson. The L.A.-based group is fortunate that horsehair was the lone casualty of the sessions for its outstanding latest release, Transfiguration. The word brutal is often used to describe the compositions of Christopher Rouse, whose String Quartets No. 1 and 2 and “Compline” are pressed to CD here for the first time.
The Pulitzer- and Grammy- winning composer refers to his first String Quartet as “17 minutes of rage.” The initial unison D notes are stabbed mercilessly with jagged shards of Shostakovichian dissonance, while savage rhythms evoke an execution chamber. With exacting choreography of Rouse’s ruthless writing, the Calder Quartet confirms its place as one of the most fearlessly dexterous ensembles today.
Though Quartet No. 2 is somewhat less bloodthirsty than No. 1, both quartets share tonal, elegiac closing sections, the latter serving as a hushed eulogy for assassinated Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat. The opening of No. 2’s third movement offers one of the album’s finest moments, the strings creating a sinister sonic hue like a long-unused, raspy accordion.
Flutist Daniel Alexander, clarinetist Alicia Lee and harpist Sivan Magen join the quartet for Rouse’s Vespa ride through Rome, “Compline.” The claustrophobic rampage is absent, exchanged here for church bells and looping urban rhythms, deftly traversed by the guest artists.
- Doyle Armbrust
published in Time Out Chicago on November 18th, 2009