Harold Meltzer: Aqua

Harold Meltzer (b. 1966) wrote Aqua for the Barlow Prize, which he won in 2008. It was first performed by the Avalon Quartet in 2012 at the Bargemusic Concert Hall, New York City. Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times wrote that Aqua is “a boldly episodic string quartet lasting 20 minutes. In various sections the strings play aggressive, astringent arpeggios, break into spiky chords, then segue into meditative stretches of tart yet celestial harmonies, and more. Over all, the music comes across as at once exhilarating and dangerous (June 1, 2013).”

Lee Hyla: Quartet No. 3

Lee Hyla (1952–2014) wrote his Third Quartet for the Lydian Quartet in 1989, after a commission by the Chamber Music America and Pew Charitable Trust. It was premiered in the same year by the Lydian Quartet at the Sacramento New Music Festival (“FeNAM”). Daniel Stepner says “Lee Hyla’s one-movement String Quartet No. 3 is a wonderful example of his remarkable range—from ferocious, visceral energy to keening lyricism and meditative calm.” Few composers were as remarkable as Lee at delivering one bracing, thrilling, touching, incisive, unhinged, refined, unbridled, groovy piece after another. The solo works (Basic Training, Third Party, Passeggiata), the concertos, and the ensemble works (all four string quartets, Tans, Pre-Pulse Suspended, the Amnesia series, We Speak Etruscan, and Ciao, Manhattan) chart an uncommonly individual path.

Kurt Rohde: Treatises for an Unrecovered Past

Kurt Rohde (b. 1966) wrote Treatises for an Unrecovered Past for the Lydian Quartet as part of a commission from the Lydian Quartet in 2012. Kurt Rohde wrote of his quartet: “Using manifestos by Fludd, Kepler, Kircher and Vicentino as a model, the work projects an imagined reassembling of music from the present in a non-specific, distant future by someone that would be a not-yet-existing version of me.”

The Lydian Quartet, colloquially known to fellow musicians and composers as “The Lyds,” have earned a reputation as one of the most important quartets for sharing the work of living composers. However, since its founding in 1980, the quartet has ”embraced the full range of string quartet repertory with curiosity, virtuosity, and dedication to the highest artistic ideals of music making.” They remain the quartet-in-residence at Brandeis University. Members: Judith Eissenberg, violin, Joshua Gordon, cello, Mark Berger, viola, and Daniel Stepner, violin.

$10 Students and Children, $20 Adults (Standard Seating)