Extending String Quartet: U.S. West Coast: The New Vienna
Alex Ross speaker
Calder Quartet
Benjamin Jacobson violin, Andrew Bulbrook violin, Jonathan Moerschel viola, Eric Byers cello
ao Igor Stravinsky 3 Pieces for String Quartet
John Cage String Quartet in Four Parts
Anton Webern 5 Pieces for String Quartet
Andrew Norman Sabina
and parts from early works by Terry Riley
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the American west coast was a breeding ground for composers. An open-minded “new Vienna” where a new kind of music could be born — spatial, repetitive and influenced by non-Western sounds. Writer and critic Alex Ross and the Calder Quartet take you to the West Coast, their home: “We will hear West Coast voices past and present, including John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, and Andrew Norman, and we will explore the surprising influence of émigré composers like Stravinsky and Schoenberg on minimalism and other West Coast innovations. ”