Acacia Quartet The American




ACACIA QUARTET THE AMERICAN
INDPENDENT THEATRE
OCTOBER 2019
Three very different works across musical styles and time , taking us from the 18th century to now , in a delicious concert by the Acacia Quartet – namely Stefan Duwe on viola and Anna Martin-Scrase on cello ,Lisa Stewart and Myee Clohessy on violin. The playing was sumptuous and exquisite and there was great rapport between the quartet.
The programme began with the work composed earliest in time, Mozart’s SQ 15, K421, dedicated to Haydn . It is thought to have been composed in 1783 while his wife Constanze was in labour with their first child and Mozart was facing a new uncertain future.   
The first movement was given a brisk yet lush sonorous reading with its animated rich flowing melodic line .The second movement was slower in pace and far more thoughtful and questioning,  It was quivering , lyrical ,dynamic and spiky.
The third movement had a sharp, fiery opening , leading to the main circular waltz like melody.  Duwe on viola led , the others accompanying with pizzicato.
The final sprightly fourth movement was played with gusto. It was energetic at first then turned darkly passionate and swirling , almost Romantic in style , with its whirling flurries cascading and tumbling towards the end
The middle piece was Alice Chance ‘s  A Sundried Quartet , her latest composition, specially commissioned for Acacia Quartet .The first movement , Exposure with quivering cello and long sharp spiky lines of music pulsated and radiated heat as in being dried out by the sun.The second movement Dribble Castles ,with its percussive rhythms was like cascading grains of sand falling .The third movement featured a bouncy cello leading and a lyrical accompanying melodic line for the others of the quartet. The fourth movement , Song Without Words ( Aloe Vera)  was eloquently impassioned and lilting . The piece  was a great audience favourite.  

The second half of the programme after interval was Antonin Dvorak’s - SQ 12, Op. 96 known as ‘ American’ . It was a joyful summer piece , most appropriate for Sydney at this time . The work is regarded as showing the influence of African-American music on Dvořák and was composed as a sort of reminiscence of his summer stay in Iowa with other artists. The first movement was vibrant and multitextured , mostly warm , circular and shimmering .At times it was lyrical and hazy others sharp and spiky. The second movement with its soaring melodic line heard the violins pulsate and the viola eloquently ascending .The dynamic third movement had a bouncy opening and the melody was stated and passed around the quartet, taken and developed to the driven , lively conclusion.
A delectable concert.

https://www.theindependent.org.au/Events/Acacia-Quartet/The-American
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - SQ 15, K421
Alice Chance - A Sundried Quartet
Antonin Dvorak - SQ 12, Op. 96 ‘American’
Running time just under two hours including interval
Acacia Quartet in The American was at the Independent Theatre Sunday 27 October 2019 as part of the Prelude in Tea series.






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