The California Festival ended on Sunday. The inaugural festival’s website boasted more than 180 recent compositions performed by 100 statewide organizations since November 3.
Among the festival’s final concerts on Sunday was one performed by San Diego’s Hausmann Quartet, which reliably plays contemporary music on its “Haydn Voyages” concerts aboard the ferryboat Berkeley at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Sunday afternoon’s program was no different, featuring “branching patterns” by inti figgis-vizueta, composed in 2021 for the Kronos Quartet’s 50th anniversary.
In March, the Argus Quartet played two earlier string quartets by the New York-based composer on their concert for UC San Diego’s ArtPower.
These string quartet scores require unusual participation from the musicians. The six minutes of “branching patterns” is notated on one page for the entire ensemble. Pitches are provided, with instructions for possible interpretations. At times, solo moments are designated for players. Textures and gestures, such as upward glissandos or pizzicato arpeggios are similarly indicated.
Compared to the Kronos Quartet recording, there was not as much deviation or elaboration on the given pitches in the Hausmann’s interpretation. The rate of movement from one chord to the next was fairly consistent, providing an overall structural rhythm that ushered in the next sonority.
Hausmann’s rendition seemed valid, if less florid than the Kronos’s version. Figgis-vizueta’s slowly evolving, mostly consonant harmonies and rhythmic freedom were pleasant contrasts to the regular rhythms and functional tonality of Haydn’s Quartet no. 48 in C Major, op. 64, no. 1, which opened the program.
The Hausmann gave an especially refined performance of Haydn, marked by clarity, wit, and well-chosen tempos. Over the years they have now traversed 48 of the Austrian composer’s quartets, with at least 10 more planned for future “Haydn Voyages.”
The String Quartet no. 2 by Charles Ives, a rarely played American masterpiece, opened the second half. The Hausmann did it justice.
In this quartet, Ives gave each of the instruments its own personality. The form of the entire work is a discussion between four people, which in the second movement breaks down into more temperamental arguments. The final movement sees all the characters climbing a mountain to “view the firmament” with music that maintains their independence yet coheres into a transcendent whole.
Ives’ 19th-century views on femininity (which to him was represented by conventional tonal harmony) and masculinity (aggressive dissonance) do not sit well with modern notions of gender. However, one need not subscribe to these philosophies to appreciate the conflicts between old styles (19th century tonality) and new (atonality) that battle it out in this quartet.
Second violinist Bram Goldstein brought old-fashioned schmaltz to his part of the safe, conservative character whose cloying melodies are violently interrupted by harsh dissonances from the other three.
First violinist Isaac Allen played the stratospheric hymn paraphrase in the final movement with appropriate reverence and glory, as cellist Alex Greenbaum sung out a slowly descending pattern. Violist Angela Choong’s contributions during the more frantic moments may have been less apparent, but the rocking chords in the final measures and the defiant dissonances against the F-major chord sounded by the others at the very end were notably well played.
The program concluded with excerpts from Lou Harrison’s “String Quartet Set.” What better way to close the California Festival in San Diego than with these delightful movements by that most Californian of composers?
Harrison often said that “Melody is the audience’s take home pay,” and the set is graced with long, pleasant lines. The Hausmann performed them with no vibrato, in the manner of early music interpretation, an exceedingly apt style for “String Quartet Set.” Melodies were passed and accompaniments played in excellent intonation, provoking a standing ovation at the conclusion of the final, energetic “Estampie.”
Hertzog is a freelance writer.
