St. Lawrence String Quartet at Bing Concert Hall, October 23, 2019

Stanford University Live presents a Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert featuring the St. Lawrence String Quartet
Bing Concert Hall
Stanford University, 327 Lasuen St, Stanford, CA 94305-5005 USA
7:00 PM, Wednesday, October 23, 2019

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[7:01 PM Opening remarks by Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann]
[7:04 PM remarks and poem by Judea Pearl]
[brief pause for SLSQ to get ready]

Steve Reich (b. 1936): Different Trains (1988)

1. [7:08 PM] America-Before the War
2. [7:17 PM] Europe-During the War
3. [7:24 PM] After the War
   [set ends 7:35 PM]

the St. Lawrence String Quartet:

• Christopher Costanza: cello;
• Geoff Nuttall: violin;
• Owen Dalby: violin;
• Lesley Robertson: viola.

[7:56 PM lights down, band out]

Steve Reich (b. 1936): Daniel Variations (2006)

1. [7:58 PM] I saw a dream. Images upon my bed and visions in my head frightened me.
2. [8:04 PM] My name is Daniel Pearl. (I'm a Jewish American from Encino California.)
3. [8:09 PM] Let the dream fall back onto the dreaded.
4. [8:15 PM] I sure hope that Gabriel likes my music, when the day is done
   [show ends 8:23 PM]

• Jeff Anderle: clarinet;
• Kumaran Arul: piano;
• Will Betts: tenor vox;
• Lea Bourgade: violin I;
• Michele Cheng: gong;
• Minseung Choi: tenor vox;
• Yuhi Aizawa Combatti: soprano vox;
• Christopher Costanza: cello;
• Cooper D'Agostino: tenor vox;
• Laura Dahl: piano;
• Owen Dalby: violin I;
• Evan Kim: cello;
• Hugo Kitano: piano;
• Hans Kretz: conductor;
• Bryce Leafman: vibraphone;
• Adrian Liu: piano;
• Greg Messa: vibraphone;
• Griffin Miller: vibraphone;
• Frances Molyneux: soprano vox;
• Geoff Nuttall: violin II;
• Ben Parks: viola;
• Lesley Robertson: viola;
• Mahnaz Roshanaei: bass drum;
• Tim Silva: tenor vox;
• Colby Smith: soprano vox;
• Cameron Twarog: violin II;
• Anna von Preyss: soprano vox;
• Colin Yule: vibraphone;
• Joy Yuzuhira: clarinet.

I was a little surprised when I first noticed that Danny's concert was moved from Memorial Church to Bing Hall, but didn't give it much thought. Having just heard the concert, I can say it was a good choice. MemChu is a fine venue, but it's highly reverberant acoustic space isn't so kind to amplified sounds (like those called for in Different Trains) or larger ensembles (like the one put together for Daniel Variations). Bing worked great! If it turns out to be a one-time switch, I'll try not to complain!

With Different Trains (truly one of Reich's great works!), the program notes mentioned that the pre-recorded part comes from the Kronos Quartet recording on Nonesuch. Since it didn't sound to me as if the SLSQ was playing on top of Kronos, I'm wondering if what they really meant was that they were given access to the same multitracks to use for the backing part. Either way, it sounded really good.

I was a bit less impressed with Daniel Variations, and I suspect that what bothered me were the aggregated timing inconsistencies accumulated from the doubling and quadrupling of parts. I know that the sound was intended to have rich, lingering harmonies, but every now and then there was a certain smeariness or lack of crispness that sort of interrupted my reverie. Guess I need to hear it again! Think I can get everyone to agree to another week or two of practice before scheduling a reprise performance?

As a final aside, my timing notes above are a bit suspect … i was having issues with the new Fitbit … unlike my old Surge, the Charge3 doesn't seem to work so great as an easy-to-read, hands-free timepiece. Gonna have to come up with some sort of fix for that.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2019 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2019 event list! ☸ On to the next event!