Reviewed by DEBRA RUE

The Ponca City Community Concert Series continued Tuesday night, February 15th at the Poncan Theatre with a performance by the Balourdet String Quartet. This outstanding group of musicians formed their quartet in 2018 at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Presently they are based in Boston, Massachusetts at the New England Conservatory in the Professional String Quartet Program. They have won many awards and competitions including Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Competition, the 2021 Premio Paolo Borciani in Reggio Emilia, Italy and the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition.

The quartet played wonderful instruments and their rhythmic accuracy and sense of ensemble makes them an exceptionally talented group. With few comments from the performers and no program notes, here is a capsulized synopsis of the repertoire that was performed. The program began with Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet op. 76 No. 4 written at age 65. This work is known as the “Sunrise” quartet and was written for the Hungarian count Joseph Erdody. This work embodies in sound the rising of the sun, hints of dance and folk music and a variety of emotions. The numerous fast passages throughout the four movements made this a great way to begin the program.

The music of Igor Stravinsky always meets audiences with “raised eyebrows”. The Three Pieces for String Quartet was no exception. Dance invoked a feeling of folk dance to the listener. Eccentric was exactly that as it copied the jerky, spastic movements of the clown or mime known in London as Little Tich that inspired the piece. Knowing the background of this work makes it easier to understand the use of pizzicato and fragmented lines. Canticle utilized interesting use of sound and silence - the very essence of music but composed with harmonic dissonances. It is said the final moments of this piece are “some of the best music of that time”.

Following Intermission was an avant-garde work by Nina Young born in 1984 and trained at the University of Southern California. Composed in 2013, Memento Mori is the artistic meaning of “remember that you will die”.The violinist explained that it suggests “looking down time’s arrow”. Written to be a meditation on life and the perception of time, the music portrays the constant influx of information, sensations and emotions that are present daily and the ability to step out of time and explore their intricacies and beauty.

The program concluded with Johannes Brahms’ String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op.. 51. This work was written for his violinist friend, Joseph Joachim whose motto was “Frei, aber einsam “ (Free, but lonely). Brahms countered that thought with “Frei, but glad” (Free, but glad). The work was composed reflecting these German letters as the musical theme - F-A-E & F-B-F. Having this information available would have been beneficial for the audience to truly appreciate this passionate, virtuosic performance. With bows flying and notes swirling, this quartet has a bright future ahead.