Piece for Quartet and Percussion Blows Away Audience at Chamber Music Northwest Concert
Read this review by James Bash of Oregon Music News to hear about a spectacular performance of Pavel Haas’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 7 “From the Monkey Mountains,” and learn more about the incredible story behind its composition.
One of the most eclectic and interesting programs of the year occurred last week (on July 15th) at Lincoln Recital Hall when Chamber Music Northwest presented a concert that travelled from Bach to Babbitt and beyond. I say beyond because the program included Pavel Haas’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 7 “From the Monkey Mountains,” which, aside from its unique subtitle, is an outstanding and very inventive piece that includes percussion. I’ve heard a lot of chamber music in the past several years, but I’ve never heard a string foursome play with percussion. You might think that such a piece must be 20 of 30 years old, but it is closer to 86, because Haas wrote his String Quartet No. 2 in 1925, when he was just 26 years old. The program notes (written concisely by Dr. Richard E. Rodda) told the sad story of Haas, a Czech composer who was interned by the Nazis at Theresienstadt before dying at Auschwitz in 1944. It’s the stuff that makes a person reflect on what life is all about. Fortunately, Hass’s music survived, and we can hear it today.
READ THE FULL REVIEW!
James Bash writes articles for a variety of publications, including magazines such as Opera America, Open Spaces, Opera, MUSO, International Arts Manager, American Record Guide, Symphony, Opera Canada, and PSU Magazine.
HEAR MORE ABOUT THE HASS’ STRING QUARTET NO. 2 HERE:
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