San Francisco Performances presents Dublin Guitar Quartet
Herbst Theatre
Veterans' Building, San Francisco War Memorial Performing Arts Center, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-4522 USA
7:30 PM, Friday, November 10, 2023

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• PHILIP GLASS: String Quartet No. 2, Company
• PHILIP GLASS: Piano Etudes No. 2, 9, 16, and 20
• PHILIP GLASS: String Quartet No. 3, Mishima
• WOJCIECH KILAR: Orawa
• RACHEL GRIMES: Book of Leaves
• MARC MELLITS: (New arrangement TBD)
• ARVO PÄRT: Summa

[7:34 PM] {lights down, pre-recorded house announcements, performers out}

1. [7:36 PM] [Bryce Dessner](https://brycedessner.com/) (b. 1976): Aheym (2013), written for Kronos Quartet, transcribed for guitar ensemble
   [7:44 PM] {work ends}
   [7:45 PM] {program comments from Brian Bolger}

Philip Glass (b. 1937): String Quartet No. 2, Company, written for Kronos Quartet, transcribed for guitar ensemble

1. [7:46 PM] Mvt. I ♩ = 96
2. [7:49 PM] Mvt. II ♩ = 160
3. [7:51 PM] Mvt. III ♩ = 96
4. [7:53 PM] Mvt. IV ♩ = 160
   [7:55 PM] {work ends}
   [7:56 PM] {more program comments from BB}

1. [7:56 PM] Piano Étude No. 2
2. [8:02 PM] Piano Étude No. 9
3. [8:06 PM] Piano Étude No. 16
4. [8:10 PM] Piano Étude No. 20
   [8:18 PM] {set ends}

[8:37 PM] {lights down, announcements, performers out}

Rachel Grimes (b. 1970): Selections from Book of Leaves for solo piano (2009), transcribed for guitar ensemble by DGQ

1. [8:38 PM] Mvt. II Every Morning
2. [8:40 PM] Mvt. VI My Dear Companion
3. [8:43 PM] Mvt.XIII Every Morning‚ Birds
   [8:44 PM] {work ends}
   [8:45 PM] {program comments from Brian Bolger}

Philip Glass (b. 1937): String Quartet No. 3, Mishima, written for Kronos Quartet, transcribed for guitar ensemble

1. [8:46 PM] Mvt. I 1957-Award Montage
2. [8:51 PM] Mvt. II November 25-Ichigaya
3. [8:52 PM] Mvt. III 1934-Grandmother and Kimitake
4. [8:56 PM] Mvt. IV 1962-Body Building
5. [8:58 PM] Mvt. V Blood Oath
6. [9:03 PM] Mvt. VI Mishima/Closing
   [9:06 PM] {work ends}
   [9:07 PM] {brief program comments from BB}

1. [9:07 PM] Arvo Pärt (b. 1935): Summa (1977) for chorus, transcribed for guitar ensemble by Dublin Guitar Quartet with input from Arvo Pärt
   [9:06 PM] {work ends}
   [9:07 PM] {brief program comments from BB}

Marc Mellits (b. 1966): unidentified selections from Titan (2018) for string quartet and bass clarinet, transcribed for guitar ensemble.

1. [9:15 PM] I Saturn
2. [9:18 PM] TBD
3. [9:21 PM] VIII Phoebe & Janus
4. [9:24 PM] TBD
   [9:26 PM] {final applause}
   [9:27 PM] {done}

Dublin Guitar Quartet

• Brian Bolger: classical guitar;
• Pat Brunnock: 8-string classical guitar;
• Chien Buggle: 8-string classical guitar;
• Tomas O'Durcain: classical guitar.

A fine night for modern classical guitar. Nary a whiff of anything remotely Hispanic. Or Irish, for that matter!

I was surprised at the performers lack of engagement with the audience: no greeting at the start of the show. Nothing to introduce the individual members or tell us why two were playing 8-string fan-fretted instruments. No thanks at the end. Brian Bolger did make cursory programmatic announcements, but they were frustratingly brief, and omitted important details (like which movements were selected for the Grimes and Mellits segments). Must be the famous Irish reserve.

Despite the criticism above, and the obvious one (that a guitar quartet is bound to sound kinda samey-samey after awhile), I really enjoyed this show. The performances were crisp and sharp, and the performers were great at mind-melding into a single unit – the quartet as one – plan with verve and élan without anyone standing out as overly showy despite the technical challenges of the compositions. And it helped that I'm a big fan of Philip Glass!

Program Notes or program notes

Scott Cmiel posted a peculiar review of the show with SFCV: in my view, he rephrased the program summaries without adding much of anything about what actually happened tonight. Most strange to me is that he repeated the program bit about the group using 11-string guitars when none where in evidence tonight as best as I could tell. Like I said, strange!

Soon after this show, Joshua Barone posted an interesting article in the NY Times about Philip Glass' Études: no mention of the Dublin Guitar Quartet there, but it seemed like a good link to share, so here it is!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!