I was digging through my ever-growing iTunes library and listening to some old performances by the Ethos Quartet.\u00c2\u00a0 We went through three incarnations – each time with a new violinist replacing the previous one.\u00c2\u00a0 Denise Huizenga was the constant thread in the violins, with Lisa Hansen, Marty Jennings, and Tyler Neist taking the other chair as the quartet went through its life.<\/p>\n
I think that the period where we worked with Marty was the real golden age of the quartet – we played some transformative concerts with him, most notably of music by Shostakovich, and also Thomas Svoboda’s Second Quartet.<\/p>\n
Shostakovich’s music continues to fascinate me, mostly because he does so much with so little material, yet it usually comes off not sounding repetitive (unless it’s supposed to sound that way).\u00c2\u00a0 It is also amazing in its continuing relevance.\u00c2\u00a0 It would make sense, since it is a product of the 20th century, and that century’s history of violence and repression is continuing without an end in sight into the 21st century.<\/p>\n
Here’s a movement from Shostakovich’s Ninth String Quartet, performed on November 9th, 2001 at the Old Church, with Marty Jennings, first violin; Denise Huizenga, second violin; Charles Noble, viola; and Heather Blackburn, cello.\u00c2\u00a0 The recording was made by Nolan Huizenga.<\/p>\n[audio:shostqt9mvt3.mp3]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was digging through my ever-growing iTunes library and listening to some old performances by the Ethos Quartet.\u00c2\u00a0 We went through three incarnations – each time with a new violinist replacing the previous one.\u00c2\u00a0 Denise Huizenga was the constant thread in the violins, with Lisa Hansen, Marty Jennings, and Tyler Neist taking the other chair […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[136,115],"tags":[1086],"class_list":["post-1327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chamber-music","category-music","tag-heather-blackburn"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-lp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":775,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/13\/alban-berg-quartet-begins-final-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":1327,"position":0},"title":"alban berg quartet begins final season","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Alban Berg String Quartet With the Guarneri Quartet playing its final concerts this Spring, the Alban Berg Quartet is beginning its final season's worth of concerts this season as well. A good article from the Times of London on the internal life of the string quartet. There's really nothing like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"alban_berg_finalv1.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/alban_berg_finalv1.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6154,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/14\/calder-quartet-premieres-rouse-quartet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1327,"position":1},"title":"calder quartet premieres rouse quartet","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Christopher Rouse's String Quartet No. 3 will be premiered by the Calder Quartet at Carnegie Hall Friday evening, April 15th. Here's a video that Carnegie Hall has posted: http:\/\/youtu.be\/G708FM2LO5g","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/CasSeated-400x265.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14046,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/03\/13\/arnica-quartet-in-salem-this-afternoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1327,"position":2},"title":"arnica quartet in salem this afternoon (past)","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for our virtually annual performance at the Salem Camerata Musica series at the Salem Library this afternoon. It's a program entitled Beyond Beethoven, and it features three wonderful quartets that one doesn't get to hear very often. The concert is at 2:30, and is free. We hope to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Arnica Quartet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/DSC_2372-500x332.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13993,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/03\/arnica-quartet-noontime-concert-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":1327,"position":3},"title":"arnica quartet noontime concert today","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're free at midday today, I invite you to a free concert that my string quartet is giving as part of the University of Portland's Music at Midweek series. We'll be playing Beethoven's first completed quartet (the Op 18, no. 3) and Shostakovich's first mature string quartet, his Second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7593,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/12\/bainbridge-quartet-makes-debut-in-portland-at-old-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":1327,"position":4},"title":"bainbridge quartet makes debut in portland at old church","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We're really excited about this one! Half of the Arnica Quartet (Charles & Heather) join with two of their oldest friends and former quartet mates: Timothy Schwarz, now of the Serafin Quartet and violin professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania - formerly of the ancient Arcadia Quartet with Charles and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.arnicaquartet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/tumblr_m3691fQkNq1qg3b40.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2326,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/17\/neah-kah-nie-string-quartet-central-library\/","url_meta":{"origin":1327,"position":5},"title":"Neah-Kah-Nie String Quartet @ Central Library","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Neah-Kah-Nie Project String Quartet Sunday, April 19, 2\u00e2\u20ac\u201c3 p.m. The Neah\u00e2\u20ac\u201cKah\u00e2\u20ac\u201cNie Project String Quartet was formed in 2007 to record the string quartet music of Ferdinand Sorenson and Sorenson's grandson Dana Carlile. 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