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Olli Mustonen’s Quartetto Premieres at the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival

Mar. 01, 2011

The Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival is one of the hottest spots for contemporary chamber music in the Southwest. After Olli Mustonen’s Nonetto II received its first performance here two years ago, the reaction was so euphoric that the composer was commissioned to compose a new work by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Receiving its world premiere on March 13 at the Leo Rich Theater, the work deviates from the customary piano quartet instrumentation with an oboe instead of a cello. The oboe part is performed by Alan Vogel – the only wind player among this year’s festival participants.

Mustonen comments on Quartetto:

“The first movement, Quasi una passacaglia, begins in a slow tempo (Grave) and initially consists of three separate elements, which almost seem not to be in any sort of contact with each other. Later the music gets even quieter and seems to anticipate some kind of a storm. Suddenly a presto erupts, based on variations of motives presented in the opening section. In the end of this movement, the music finally seems to quiet down - mysterious chords in the piano seem to indicate a possibility of a new kind of music.

The second movement, "Es muss sein," begins with three ascending chords, but after this, lamenting, chromatically descending chords take over the piano part. A new kind of more hopeful music emerges, only to be soon interrupted by a new appearance of the lamenting chords. However, like tears, they eventually fade away and something reminiscent of the mysterious chords in the end of the first movement appears. There is a new motive, marked Estatico, which eventually causes a huge accelerando and crescendo - the hopeful music, heard briefly earlier in the movement, reappears and the quartet reaches an ecstatic conclusion.

Discover more about Olli Mustonen by visiting www.schott-music.com.

For information on the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, go to www.arizonachambermusic.org.

Olli Mustonen
Quartetto (2010)
for oboe, violin, viola and piano
16’

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