Pacifica Quartet brings modern flair to Beethoven

By Evan Riddell
Western Herald

The Pacifica Quartet is completing their Beethoven cycle at the Dalton Center Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. for Fontana Chamber Arts’ season opening concert.

Having performed regularly for Fontana since 2005, the quartet has been performing the complete string quartets of Beethoven for the last few years.

“String quartets are something that exist all over the world, particularly since the music was generally written in Europe and the Pacifica is one of the great American string quartets; they’re young, they’re very serious about their approach,” said Abhijit Sengupta, Fontana’s director and chief executive officer. “At the same time, there’s a really youthful flair and energy in all of their performances that really make them audience favorites everywhere they go.”

Pacifica’s four members, Simin Ganatra, Masumi Per Rostad, Sibbi Bernhardsson, and Brandon Vamos, began playing together when they were teenagers. In 2004, the quartet was honored with a residency at the University of Illinois and hold similar titles at the University of Chicago and the Longy School of Music in Boston. Most recently, the group won a Grammy for 2009’s Best Chamber Music Performance for their rendition of Elliott Carter’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5.

Fontana’s theme for the 2009-10 season is “Icons and Iconoclasts,” and the Pacifica’s program features two of the most famous iconoclasts in classical music.

The program begins with Mozart’s “Dissonance,” so-called by musicians and audiences of the day for its advanced harmonies and what they perceived as “wrong” notes. The quartet is also performing Beethoven’s last string quartet, but is restoring it to how the piece was originally written.

“It’s a string quartet that originally had a really epic last part called ‘The Great Fugue,’” Sangupta said. “This ‘Great Fugue,’ that was originally the last part of this piece, was so shockingly contemporary and modern to the audiences in those days, they didn’t know what to make of it.” Unusual for the composer, he broke the piece from the fugue, rewrote the end, and published the fugue on its own.

Linking the two pieces is a string quartet by the 20th century composer György Ligeti, who adds something different to Friday’s performance. Instead of the usual concert with Bach or Haydn, Ligeti puts the Mozart and Beethoven pieces in a different perspective with a modern interpretation of a string quartet.

“[Students] can get a sense that this is culture. It’s not just entertainment; it’s not something your parents or your grandparents do. It’s vital, it’s a part of their history, and it’s a lot hipper than a lot of students think,” Sangupta said. “It’s something to be admired when you see somebody who put in the hours and the time to master something and are doing something that they love and approach their craft, their art, or their profession with a great deal of seriousness and earnestness.”

While most students would be quick to write off the Pacifica Quartet’s performance as just another stuffy chamber music group, the quartet is made up of relatively young musicians, as the four began performing together in 1994.

“The reason Fontana is such an attractive thing for students is that it’s right in your back yard. You don’t need to put on your suit and tie or anything like that. Come as you are,” Sangupta said.
Admission is $5 for anyone under the age of 25.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Sep 24 2009. Filed under Weekend Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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