On November 2, St. Louis’ Arianna String Quartet performed Passport: Latin America in their “house” (The Touhill Performing Arts Center at University of Missouri-St. Louis), a program consisting of works from three contemporary Latin American composers and including a flute player. In addition to reveling in the new compositions Arianna continues to bring to our metro area, I was struck by their courage in having a program of all new music, music from a part of the world we don’t tend to associate with “classical” music.

You know, whenever you go to hear a major orchestra or chamber group, if they include a contemporary work (usually a big if), the organizers invariably sandwich it between two known and popular works, or at least recognized composers. I’ve always speculated the reason they do this is because if it’s scheduled first, many people will show up late, and if it’s scheduled last, many patrons will leave early. It’s like you have to put the bitter pill inside a scoop of ice cream to get patrons to swallow it!

The first piece, Quartet No. 1 by Osvaldo Costa de Lacerda (Brazilian) was playful, almost like a pop tune, but somber as well, and seemed balanced among the different instruments. I have to confess, I didn’t “feel” any Latin rhythms, but maybe that’s just me. I didn’t take any notes on the second piece.

The third piece, Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (2001), by Gabriela Lena Frank (Peruvian, Chinese, Lithuanian, Jewish, and born in Berkeley, California), well-exemplified for me what the flutist, Alberto Almarza (Chilean), called a “layering of cultural realities…a reflection of the society” during the lecture preceding the program. This piece began with tribal-like percussion, guitar-like strumming rhythms, then glissando from the violin and high energy-tremelos. The second movement featured pizzicato (plucking the strings) and strange bowing I’ve never seen before, almost as if the music was not really mean for these instruments. I detected Latin dance and rhythms for sure in this piece, and even some tunes I’d more associate with Hollywood westerns. By the end it was rip-the-strings-off pizzicato!  In the third movement, the players had to endure playing harmonics measure after measure – I say “endure” because harmonics are really hard to play right (at least they were for me, when I played viola). A blend of western United States and Mexican Mariachi band type sound began the last movement, which ended with bouncing bow strokes that reminded me of a horses’ clappity-clap on the high prairie.

To me, the point of hearing contemporary music for the first time isn’t necessarily to like or not like the music but instead to experience a different context, a new way of putting notes together  that borrows from convention but also reaches for something new, to challenge our ears and our brains. Almarza said during the lecture that composers don’t invent anything, they open windows to a library of sounds from around the world. I would courteously contest that statement in general, but certainly see how it applies here.

The Arianna String Quartet continues to bring variety, sophistication, energy, and contemporary innovation to the St. Louis chamber music scene. They deserve our support!