Shostakovich String Quartet #2 in A major, Op. 68 (1944)
Bologne String Quartet #5 in G minor, (1770)
Torrente String Quintet “As the Earth Burns” (2022)
Shostakovich, Bologne and Torrente
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century and one of its most popular composers. Shostakovich combined a variety of different musical techniques into his works. His music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; he was also heavily influenced by the neoclassical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and by the late Romanticism of Gustav Mahler.
The String Quartet #2 has four movements. The overture that the work begins with is in sonata form, traditional for the first movement of such a work. The music is strong, forceful, and animated. This strong tone is subdued by the lyrical, wandering mood of the recitative. The first violin leads a slow, distressed line of music over soft seventh chords, and eventually finds calm in the romance. The finale works around to and ends in A minor.
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) was a champion fencer, classical composer, virtuoso violinist, friend of Mozart and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris. Born in the French colony of Guadeloupe, he was the son of George Bologne de Saint-Georges, a wealthy married planter, and Anne dite Nanon, his wife’s African slave. His father took him to France when he was young, and he was educated there, also becoming a champion fencer. During the French Revolution, the younger Saint-Georges served as a colonel of the Légion St.-Georges, the first all-black regiment in Europe. He fought on the side of the Republic. Today the Chevalier de Saint-Georges is best remembered as the first known classical composer who was of African ancestry; he composed numerous string quartets and other instrumental music, and opera.
Born in Cuba, Al Torrente came to this country at age eleven and grew up in Miami, Florida, playing in bands as a guitar player as well as a trumpet player. After graduating from the University of Miami with a Theory and Composition degree where he studied with Clifton Williams and James Progris. Mr. Torrente taught at the Berklee School of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, teaching Composition and Arranging. When he moved to New York he began playing, recording and traveling with many artists, including Ben E. King, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Kendricks, Southside Johnny. Al received a Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
Al’s new string quintet was commissioned by the SBCE. “The Earth is Burning” is the third composition he has written for us. This performance will be a southeastern US premiere.
October 2, 2022, 6:00 PM TO 7:00 PM
LOCATION
Coral Gables Museum
285 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134
United States
PURCHASE TICKETS: www.artsticketing.com/sbce
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