COURTNEE CESTA
Assistant Reverb Editor
In a refreshing change from the usual string recitals and vocal performances, Rosch Recital Hall hosted the Grammy-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet on Friday, April 4 — an ensemble referred to by The New York Times as “The world’s hottest classical ensemble or its tightest pop band.” During last weekend’s performance, the foursome: John Dearman, Matthew Greif, William Kanengiser and Scott Tennant, worked and performed with the Fredonia Guitar Ensemble, under the direction of School of Music professor James Piorkowski.
Before the ensemble took the stage with the quartet, the guitar students sat in the audience and on the edge of their seats, wide-eyed and interested in techniques that the quartet had presented at a masterclass just the day before.
The program began with a duo of classical dances arranged by members of the quartet, and although they preserved many of the original qualities, it was the new stylistic techniques that captivated the audience. The arrangements included percussive sounds that were produced with different parts of the players hands and strumming patterns made by heavily flicking the strings.
The Fredonia Guitar Ensemble collaborated with Eric Mahl, conducting graduate student, and the LAGQ to perform “Shiki” (Seasons of Japan), a piece written for the LAGQ and guitar orchestra, and dedicated to the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Even before the piece began, Piorkowski, director of the Fredonia Guitar Ensemble, followed the ensemble on stage and encouraged them to tune precisely with one another. After hearing small groups of students play together, Piorkowski distinguished the single instruments that didn’t match perfectly and encouraged them to tune up or down to fit in.
Pleased with his ensemble’s sound, Piorkowski left the stage for the quartet to enter, followed by guest conductor Mahl. Taking very little time, Mahl prepared both the quartet and the ensemble for what would be an energetic and captivating performance. With a fluid and easy to follow upward motion, it was as if Mahl’s hands pulled the members of the ensemble’s heads up on a single string. Everyone on stage took a breath and, returning to a downward position, played their first note.
The piece continued with a simple melody in the quartet, supported by subtle percussion from the ensemble — a sound meant to evoke feelings of fragility and beauty that correspond with spring. “Shiki” (Seasons of Japan) is comprised of four movements that flow together without a break, as do the seasons in a year. The fluid movement from the quartet encouraged the ensemble to blend with one another and represent specific elements from each of the four seasons, specific to Japan.
The two groups played off of each other in a compilation of traditional Japanese melodies, and despite all 24 members playing together, the sound they produced was soothing and delicate. Even when Tennant took the spotlight for a rough tremolo solo that involved strumming the strings almost violently, the audience felt the peaceful rise and fall of summer ocean waves.
Tennant’s summer tune was passed on to a duet for Grief and Dearman, who turned the melody to a darker interlude that led to autumn. The ensemble sat willingly silent at times, careful not to distract for the important, exposed melodies of traditional tunes.
It wasn’t long though, before the ensemble returned to showcase their preparation and attention to intricate detail, and supported the quartet through a harsh but fragile winter. Songs of “Antagata-Dokosa?” (“Where are you from?”) were played with energy and high spirits, representing the delight and happiness of children’s spirits as they possess hope for the future.
The audience erupted with applause as the ensemble and the quartet left the stage, but not before Kanengiser bid goodbye to one student with a handshake and a fist-bump to another.