The Elm City String Quartet continues its season with a contrast of minimalism, romanticism and tango. Piazzolla’s Tango Ballet, an excellent example of nuevo tango, was originally written as a film score for an eight-person ensemble (that included two bandoneons, piano, and electric guitar!). The work was later rearranged for string quartet as a programmatic suite, and features six “film scenes”: introduction, the street, encounter / forgetfulness, cabaret, solitude, and the street again.

Arvo Pärt’s Summa is inspired by Medieval chant and Renaissance polyphony. Summa was originally composed as an a cappella vocal work for four singers. There is a gentle, jaunty lilt to the rocking two-note motif that pervades the work with Baroque regularity, and the repetitions give a spiritual mantra-like dimension to the piece.

Mendelssohn’s Quartet Four is full of virtuosic passion, charming dance movements, and intimate romantic lyricism. While these pieces are from different ends of a spectrum, they all manage to get to the heart of what music is all about, in their own way.

Summa by Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)

Tango Ballet by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

- Intermission -

String Quartet No. 4 in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2, by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
I. Allegro assai appassionato
II. Scherzo: Allegro di molto
III. Andante
    IV. Presto agitato

Advance ticket sales close Wednesday March 13th at 2:30PM. Tickets are available at the door.