# Calder Quartet at Herbst Theatre, April 12, 2017

[San Francisco Performances](http://www.sfperformances.org/performances/1617/CalderQuartet.html) presents [Calder Quartet](http://calderquartet.com/)  
[Herbst Theatre](http://performances.org/)  
[401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-4522 USA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=401+Van+Ness+Avenue,+San+Francisco,+CA+94102-4522+USA&hl=en)  
7:30 PM, Wednesday, April 12, 2017

[[2017-04-07|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2017|Up to the 2017 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2017#April_events|Up to the 2017 event list!]] ☸  [[2017-04-13|On to the next event!]]

## Tentative Program

* Adès: _The Four Quarters_
* Adès: _Arcadiana_
* other works TBD 

## Set One

[7:31 PM lights down, announcements, performers out]

### Adès: The Four Quarters

Thomas Adès (b. 1971): _The Four Quarters_ (2010)

01. [7:32 PM] _Nightfalls_
02. [7:39 PM] _Serenade: Morning Dew_
03. [7:42 PM] _Days_
04. [7:46 PM] _The Twenty-Fifth Hour_  
[work ends 7:50 PM; applause and bows, then offstage for a minute or two]

[Thomas Adès' page](http://thomasades.com/compositions/four_quarters_the) for _The Four Quarters_

### Norman: Sabina

01. [7:53 PM] [Andrew Norman](http://andrewnormanmusic.com/) \(1979\): _Sabina_ (2008)  
[work ends 8:01 PM; applause and bows, offstage for a minute, then back]

[Composer's note](http://andrewnormanmusic.com/archives/147) for Andrew Norman's _Sabina_.

### Adès: Arcadiana

Thomas Adès (b. 1971): _Arcadiana_, Op. 12 (1994)

01. [8:03 PM] _Venezia notturna_ »
02. [8:06 PM] _Das klinget so herrlich, das klinget so schön_ »
03. [8:09 PM] _Auf dem Wasser zu singen_ »
04. [8:13 PM] _Et... (tango mortale)_ [loud and brash] »
05. [8:16 PM] _L'Embarquement_ [serene] »
06. [8:19 PM] _O Albion_ [very slow] »
07. [8:21 PM] _Lethe_  
[set ends 8:22 PM; applause and bows, then off for intermission]

[Thomas Adès' page](http://thomasades.com/compositions/arcadiana) for _Arcadiana_

## Set Two: Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E minor

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827): String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Opus 59, No. 2 (1808)

[8:45 PM lights down, announcements, band out]

01. [8:45 PM] _Allegro_
02. [8:56 PM] _Molto adagio_
03. [9:09 PM] _Allegretto_
04. [9:16 PM] _Presto_  
[show ends 9:23 PM; bows and applause, no encore]


## Performers

[Calder Quartet](http://calderquartet.com/)

* Andrew Bulbrook: violin;
* Eric Byers: cello;
* Benjamin Jacobson: violin;
* Jonathan Moerschel: viola.


## Notes

Tonight's program was a really interesting blend of new music (in the first half, delivered very precisely, and with great élan), and a bit of the moldy stand by: who could possibly complain about old Ludwig van? Are you surprised to hear that someone would be me? I certainly loves my Ludwig, and his string quartets were a big part of the background music to my college studying, but tonight's rendition seemed to be shaded just a little too far outside the lines for me to be happy about it. Overall, I'd say that the Calder's performance was a very danceable approach, with a quite liberal variation on tempos from bar to bar and measure to measure. To the extent that this injected novelty into the performance, I enjoyed it. In fact, it worked great until the final movement, when the quartet seemed to run out of steam and lose sync with one another a couple of times. Messing with the time signatures is all great fun until someone trips over a loose stave and pokes an eye out. And that's what keeps conductors in business!

Rebecca Wishnia posted a [review](https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/san-francisco-performances/adess-quartets-stack-up-well-in-calder-quartets-performance) of the show at SFCV. I disagree with her thought that the two sets blended nicely, but hey, no big deal.

{{tag>music Calder_Quartet Herbst_Theatre Andrew_Bulbrook Eric_Byers Benjamin_Jacobson Jonathan_Moerschel}}

[[2017-04-07|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2017|Up to the 2017 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2017#April_events|Up to the 2017 event list!]] ☸  [[2017-04-13|On to the next event!]]