Concert One | Citizenship Notes

In Citizenship Notes, the string quartet is posited as a microcosmic democracy; a highly engaged ecosystem of equal voices with  clear rights and responsibilities. The flattened hierarchy of Haydn’s novel string quartet writing directly mirrors the  contemporaneous societal shifts afoot in the Age of Enlightenment.

Two new commissions explore questions of citizenship and democracy in the twenty-first century including the visionary jazz musician Matana Roberts’ searing commentary (in the form of a visual score) on the US-Mexico border crisis and songwriter/composer Gabriel Kahane’s American Studies, based on a song from his widely acclaimed album Magnificent Bird. BR’s own Colin Jacobsen then puts his unique spin on the Bob Dylan civil rights era classic.

Lastly, written on the heels of his Eroica Symphony, Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59 No. 3 continues on heroic and egalitarian themes. Perhaps owing to his mentor Haydn’s example, the choice of a fugal last movement proves to be the ultimate representation of a musical democracy.

– Brooklyn Rider

Brooklyn Rider
Johnny Gandelsman | Violin
Colin Jacobsen | Violin
Nicholas Cords | Viola
Michael Nicolas | Cello

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 No. 5 [23′]

I. Allegro moderato
II. Menuetto – Trio
III. Adagio
IV. Finale. Fuga a 2 soggetti

Matana Roberts (b. 1975)
borderlands… [8′]

Gabriel Kahane (b. 1981)
American Studies [10′]

INTERVAL

Bob Dylan (b. 1941), arr. Colin Jacobsen (b. 1978)
The Times They Are A-Changin’ [6′]

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
String Quartet in C, Op. 59 No. 3 [32′]

I. Introduzione. Andante con moto – Allegro vivace
II. Andante con moto quasi allegretto
III. Menuetto grazioso
IV. Allegro molto