Circadian Quartet Partners with Amy Zanrosso

Last night the Circadian String Quartet (CSQ) returned to Old First Presbyterian Church for the first of two Old First Concerts (O1C) recitals performed with pianist Amy Zanrosso. The members of CSQ are violinists Monika Gruber and David Ryther, violist Omid Assadi, and David Wishnia on cello; and, according to my records, their last O1C appearance took place in November of 2020. The title of last night’s program was Motherland, celebrating two Eastern European nationalist composers.

CSQ and Amy Zanrosso performing David Ryther’s “Firebird” arrangement with the obligatory percussion (screen shot from the video stream of last night’s performance)

The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 81 quintet in A major, which, like many of Dvořák’s compositions, was influenced by Czech folk sources. For the first half of the program, Ryther prepared a transcription for piano, strings, and percussion of seven of the episodes from Igor Stravinsky’s score for the two-scene ballet “The Firebird.” The percussion instruments were shared by Ryther and Assadi, with Zanrosso providing a “guest appearance” on triangle. Ryther also introduced both selections with brief commentary.

Both of these offerings were given consistently engaging accounts. Zanrosso performed with just the right chemistry to fit in with CSQ’s approaches to interpretation. The Dvořák quintet is very much a “war horse” in the chamber music repertoire. However familiar the music may have been, however, the players presented the score with all the freshness of spontaneity. The second movement draws upon one of the composer’s favorite genres, the melancholy dumka; and CSQ engagingly captured the full scope of its lyrical qualities.

The Stravinsky arrangement was an ambitious undertaking. Nevertheless, Ryther knew how to focus on selections that had originally been composed primarily for the string section. Thus, more often than not, this “chamber” account managed to provide the same spirit of expressiveness that one identified with the orchestral version. Furthermore, in this chamber setting, one could better appreciate the contrapuntal interplay of the individual lines in the score. As a result, Stravinsky’s music was presented in a new metaphorical light; and, every now and then, that light revealed subtleties that might have been missed in the orchestral version.

CSQ consistently continues to provide engaging perspectives on the chamber music repertoire, and they will return to Old First this afternoon to complete their current visit with works by Robert Schumann and Dmitri Shostakovich.