The Calidore String Quartet

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hearing the Calidore String Quartet perform at the Merkin Concert Hall, a part of the Kaufman Music Center on W. 67th Street in New York City.  The name of the quartet is a combination of their origin Cali-fornia and the French word dore’ which means “golden” so thus the golden state Calidore Quartet!  Their ingenious name also describes their golden performance of works by Haydn, Webern and Beethoven.  Haydn and Beethoven along with Mozart make up what is referred to as the “First Vienna School” of music while Webern along with Schoenberg and Messian are often referred to as the “Second Vienna School” of music.  The first school establishing firmly the classical melody/harmony method of composition while the second school thought that by their time in the early 2oth century pretty much everything that could be said using the “classical composition style had been said and the second school wished to forge out in new directions using atonal and 12 tone systems, among other forms of “New Music,”  The Haydn Quartet in G Major Op. 54, No.1 was a fine example of Haydn at his peak of compositional powers with masterful interplay among the two violins, viola and cello.  The two Webern pieces, Langsammer Satz from 1905 and Five Movements, Op. 5 showed Weburn who lived until 1945 in earlier more melodic form in the Langsammer Satz and more in the “new music” form in the Five Movements.  Although I am not a huge fan of new music or atonality, I quite enjoyed both of the Webern pieces so well played by the Calidore group.  The program closed with the wonderful Beethoven Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 played with verve and supreme artistry by this fantastic young quartet.  They play all over the USA as well as in Canada, Europe and Asia so look for them in your area and don’t miss them if you enjoy string quartet music performed with amazing artistry.