Audio By Carbonatix
Betrayal, madness and suicide are the themes of this concert. For the second installment of the Nasher’s Soundings series, it will offer up two string quartets, each an exploration in human darkness. First, composer/violist Brett Dean’s String Quartet No. 2 (“And Once I Played Ophelia”), a five-movement character study in the complex, subtle and ever-misunderstood personality of Shakespeare’s Ophelia. Second, Schoenberg’s own snaking, careening dirge: the 2nd String Quartet. Seductively — even elegantly — tortuous, and fierce to the point of being surreal, Schoenberg’s 2nd String Quartet was not only a glimpse at future musics, but the first manifested roar of modernism; with it, atonality was born. Inspired by the poetry of Stefan George, the source of the quartet’s text, Schoenberg propelled himself to new heights. In conjunction with the final move-ment’s first line, which reads, “I feel air from another planet,” the composer unlocked radical new worlds for music to explore. The performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Nasher Sculpture Center (2001 Flora St.). Tickets are $25 for non-members, $20 for members and $10 for students/educators. More information at nashersculpture-center.org
Sat., Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m., 2015
