Hudson — The Shanghai Quartet is bringing, of all things, Chinese music to Hudson Hall on April 6, presented by Clarion Concerts. Zhou Long’s “Selections from Eight Folk Songs” is on the program, along with Haydn’s Quartet in D major, Op. 20, No. 4, and Grieg’s Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27.
The world’s most prominent string quartets advance their art form through commissions to the world’s most prominent composers. The Shanghai Quartet exemplifies this custom with its longstanding commitment to perform contemporary Chinese works reflecting sound worlds and musical languages that juxtapose the traditions of Eastern and Western music. So they have commissioned works from (among others) like-minded Chinese-born composers Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, Vivian Fung, Du Yun, and one of the pioneers of electronic music in China, Wang Lei. They have also worked with William Bolcom, Lowell Liebermann, the late David Del Tredici, Marc Neikrug, Sebastian Currier, [Judith Weir, and the late Krzysztof Penderecki, with whom the group had an especially close working relationship.
Repertory in the quartet’s discography of more than 30 recordings ranges from Robert Schumann to Bright Sheng. The group has recorded all of Beethoven’s string quartets and is part way through recording all of Bartók’s.
In 2020, Hal Rifken directed the documentary film “Behind the Strings,” which tells the story of the quartet’s musicians journeying westward out of the Cultural Revolution in China to their lives as performing musicians in the U.S. And now, in their roles as visiting guest professors at the Shanghai Conservatory and Central Conservatory of Music, the group’s members share in master classes some of what they have learned in America.
Composer Zhou Long won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for his first opera, “Madame White Snake.” Born in Beijing in 1953, he is known for creating music that combines Eastern and Western aesthetic concepts and musical elements and is considered a pioneer in transferring the idiomatic sounds and techniques of ancient Chinese musical traditions to modern Western instruments and ensembles. His creative vision draws from the entire spectrum of Chinese heritage, including spiritual and philosophical disciplines. He received the 2012-2013 Elise Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is currently Bonfils Distinguished Research Professor of Composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Members of the Shanghai Quartet are:
- Weigang Li, violin
- Angelo Xiang Yu, violin
- Honggang Li, viola
- Nicholas Tzavaras, cello
Hear the Shanghai Quartet on April 6, at 7 p.m., in a program of Zhou Long, Haydn, and Grieg at Hudson Hall, 327 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534. Tickets are available here or by calling (518) 822-1438.
