Telegraph Quartet Presented by Friends of Chamber Music Portland in Two Performances
Photo of the Telegraph Quartet by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/telegraph-quartet
Telegraph Quartet Presented by Friends of Chamber Music Portland in Two Performances
January 22 & 23, 2024 at 7:30pm
Lincoln Performance Hall at Portland State University
1620 SW Park Ave. | Portland, OR
Tickets & Information
Latest Album: Divergent Paths (Azica Records)
Available Now
Portland, OR – The San Francisco-based b (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group described by The Strad as having "precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication,” will be presented by Friends of Chamber Music Portland in two concerts – First Time’s a Charm featuring music by Walker, Britten, Vivian Fung, and Dvořák on Monday, January 22 and Unlikely Muses featuring music by Beethoven, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Berg on Tuesday, January 23, both at 7:30pm.
First Time’s a Charm explores examples of composers’ first attempts at the string quartet form, which they approached with great respect and individual exploration, and includes George Walker’s String Quartet No. 1 “Lyric;” Britten’s String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25; Vivian Fung’s “Pizzicato” from String Quartet No. 1; and Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105. George Walker composed his first quartet in a neo-romantic style when he was 23 years old, at a time when classical music in America was turning toward a more severe, mathematical approach. Britten completed his first string quartet within three months after he accepted a commission from the great devotee and supporter of chamber music Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Composing a work at her invitation earned him a $400 fee, and also added his name to an elite roster of composers (Bartók, Schoenberg, Copland, et al.) who had benefited from her commissions. Canadian composer Vivian Fung wrote her first string quartet using one of the most iconic tools of the medium, the pizzicato. Fung says, “Inspired by listening to Asian folk music, the piece is influenced partly by the music of the Chinese plucked instruments pipa and qin as well as by the energetic rhythms of Indonesian gamelan.” In contrast to the theme, the program closes with Dvořák’s last string quartet. For nearly three years, beginning in 1892, Antonin Dvořák lived with his family in New York City, where he was engaged as the director of the American Conservatory of Music. Dvořák became well acquainted with the musical cultures of this country. Upon returning to his homeland, Dvořák continued to work on the composition he started before leaving the United States. However, Dvořák had come home, and his new quartet spoke his language, the language of the Bohemian culture.
Unlikely Muses reflects deep relationships each composer had with another during their life that affected the course of their work and includes Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, Op. 18 No. 6; Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s String Quartet; and Berg’s Lyric Suite. The last of Beethoven’s first six string quartets owes its wit, levity, and exploratory nature to Beethoven’s teacher Josef Haydn, the grandfather of the quartet. Though Beethoven and Haydn often clashed over their styles, later in life, Beethoven would acknowledge his musical debt to Haydn and the evolution of his quartets from their Haydn-esque beginnings. Although Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel did not have a public career as a composer like her brother Felix, the two were close musical confidants throughout their lives and influenced each other’s work deeply, as can be heard in her string quartet. Lastly, Alban Berg’s unlikely muse is Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, the inspiration of his Lyric Suite, discovered much later through a miniature score of the composer outlining a secret love narrative. In 1925 an affair began between them––both were married––and Berg composed the work over the next year as a musical manifestation of the excitement, trepidation, and suffering of their secret relationship, going so far as to include their initials in musical cryptograms throughout.
The Telegraph Quartet’s latest album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, was released on August 25 via Azica Records. The first in the Telegraph’s three-album series focused on string quartets of the first half of the 20th century, Divergent Paths explores the bewildering and unbridled creativity of the period through the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Maurice Ravel, whose music on this album weaves threads of great contrast and surprising similarity. The album has been met with critical acclaim, with The New York Times reporting, “[I]n the Schoenberg, they achieve something truly special, meticulously guiding its often wayward progress. At times Schoenberg makes the four strings sound almost orchestral, but the Telegraph players can also make his contrapuntal tangles radiantly clear. Every minute of their account sounds gripping and purposeful, which is one of the highest compliments you can pay the piece.”
About Telegraph Quartet: The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
The Quartet has performed in New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. They have collaborated with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; composer-vocalist Theo Bleckmann; St. Lawrence Quartet, and the Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by John Harbison, Osvaldo Golijov, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger. In 2018 the Quartet released its debut album, Into the Light, featuring works by Anton Webern, Benjamin Britten, and Leon Kirchner on the Centaur label. The Telegraph Quartet released its new album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths – which features Ravel’s renowned quartet and Schoenberg’s first quartet – on August 25 via Azica Records.
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Quartet is currently on the chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as the Quartet-in-Residence and has given master classes at the SFCM Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan and in fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet.
For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, described by The New York Times as being “full of elegance and pinpoint control,” is presented in concert by Friends of Chamber Music Portland on Monday, January 22 and Tuesday January 23, 2024 at 7:30pm. The Bay Area ensemble will perform a different program each evening–First Time’s a Charm and Unlikely Muses. The first concert will feature music by Walker, Britten, Vivian Fung, and Dvořák, while the second performance will feature the work of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Beethoven, and Berg.
Short description: The Telegraph Quartet, which is described as “full of elegance and pinpoint control” (The New York Times), is presented by Friends of Chamber Music Portland in two unique performances on January 22 and 23, 2024. The first concert will include works by Walker, Britten, Vivian Fung, and Dvořák. The second performance will feature music by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Beethoven, and Berg.
Concert details:
Who: Telegraph Quartet
Presented by Friends of Chamber Music Portland
What: Music by Walker, Britten, Vivian Fung, and Dvořák; Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Beethoven, and Berg
When: Monday January 22 and Tuesday January 23, 2024 at 7:30pm
Where: Lincoln Performance Hall at Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave., Portland, OR 97214
Tickets and information: www.focm.org/concerts/2023-24-season/telegraph-quartet-2023-24/6263/