The SPOGreatMusic Performance Series: S42E03
Release Date: November 12, 2021
On this third episode of our SPOGreatMusic Performance Series (Season 42, 2021/2022), we’re pleased to present the following videos:
Bruno Degazio’s “Suite” from The Pearl – Part I
Performed by Odin Quartet
Suite from “The Pearl” Part I: When I Was a Little Child, Lost in Egypt / from the newly released CD, “Journey Through Night”, available now to stream: https://li.sten.to/IIE5xLP.
Notes from the Composer: “The Pearl tells the story of a young prince sent to Egypt by his parents to recover a great treasure, a pearl, from the coils of a dragon. It is a middle-eastern folk-tale dating from the first century, preserved in the apocryphal Gnostic scripture called The Acts of Thomas the Apostle.
The great 20th century psychologist C.G. Jung says of the story on which this piece is based:
In the Gnostic hymn to the soul, the son is sent forth by his parents to seek the pearl that fell from the King’s crown. It lies… guarded by a dragon, in the land of the Egyptians — that land of fleshpots and drunkenness with all its material and spiritual riches. The son and heir sets out to fetch the jewel, but forgets himself and his task in the orgies of Egyptian worldliness, until a letter from his father reminds him what his duty is. He then sets out for the water and plunges into the dark depths of the well, where he finds the pearl on the bottom, and in the end offers it to the highest divinity. This hymn, ascribed to Bardesanes (ca. 150), dates from an age that resembled ours in more than one respect. Mankind looked and waited….(for a)…symbol of the saviour, the bringer of healing.
This video is based on the music for Part 1 of the Suite written for Toronto’s Odin Quartet in 2018. It illustrates the first part of the story, where our young hero embarks on his mission, but quickly becomes disoriented and loses his way.
The artwork was created by Denzel Avila during an artist’s internship with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra in the summer of 2021, supplemented by additional artwork from University of Toronto Schools graduate, Viola Schmid.
Special thanks to Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario, Canada, for making possible the Artist Internship through which he artwork was created.”
Learn more about Bruno Degazio here.
Stream the complete “Journey Through Night” CD on various platforms you will find here: https://li.sten.to/IIE5xLP
Learn more about the Odin Quartet here: http://www.odinquartet.com
“Journey Through Night” CD Trailer – Akashic Classics
Brahms’ String Quartet No. 3 in B♭ Major – 3rd Movement “Agitato”
Performed live by Odin Quartet on October 8, 2021; Alex Toskov, violin | Tanya Charles Iveniuk, violin | Jacob Clewell*, viola | Samuel Bisson, cello
The String Quartet No. 3 in B♭ major, Op. 67, was composed by Johannes Brahms in the summer of 1875 and published by the firm of Fritz Simrock. It received its premiere performance on October 30, 1876 in Berlin. The work is scored for two violins, viola, and cello, and has four movements:
Vivace (B♭ major)
Andante (F major)
Agitato (Allegretto non troppo) — Trio — Coda (D minor)
Poco Allegretto con Variazioni (B♭ major)
Brahms composed the work in Ziegelhausen, near Heidelberg, and dedicated it to Professor Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann, an amateur cellist who had hosted Brahms on a visit to Utrecht. Brahms was at the time the artistic director of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. The work is lighthearted and cheerful, “a useless trifle”, as he put it, “to avoid facing the serious countenance of a symphony”, referring to the work on his Symphony No. 1 which debuted a week later.
The irony to this quartet is that although the quartet is dedicated to Engelmann, who is a cellist, throughout the entire quartet, there is no cello melody; the violins would have a melody throughout the piece and in the third movement, the Agitato, the melody of the movement is mainly played by a viola instead of the cello. In a letter about the quartet to Engelmann, Brahms said “This quartet rather resembles your wife—very dainty, but brilliant! …It’s no longer a question of a forceps delivery; but of simply standing by. There’s no cello solo in it, but such a tender viola solo that you may want to change your instrument for its sake!”. [Source: Wikipedia]
Video credit: Music Niagara https://www.musicniagara.org/?doing_wp_cron=1636455443.4885339736938476562500
Learn more about the Odin Quartet: http://www.odinquartet.com
ODIN QUARTET: TIME TO TANGO!
The “Time To Tango!” video series was created and performed by the Odin Quartet earlier in 2021. This series was produced in conjuction with our SPO Community Partners, the Brantford Symphony Orchestra, and presented digitally at senior living centres in Brantford.
The SPO appreciates being able to share these fantastic performances as part of our new 2021/2022 SPOGreatMusic Performance Series.
Jacob Gade’s “Jalousie” (Tango Tzigane)
Carlos Gardel’s “Por una Cabeza”