The New Music Co-op Presents:

Willow Street Spring Concert Series 2005

Imbroglio String Quartet - "New & Not-so-new Works"
Saturday, April 23rd - 8pm

Imbroglio String Quartet presents a program of the newest and oldest music in their repertoire. Alexander and Bernal will premiere two new string quartets fresh out of the oven and then we'll set the wayback machine to 1924. The final composition by a near-deaf aging Romantic, Gabriel Faure's Op. 121 explores a rich and subtle harmonic territory. Written at a time when Schoenberg and Stravinsky were the bright future of music, this was the dying breath of Romanticism. Also on the program is Gavin Bryars' minimalist-leaning String Quartet No.1 which had its 1985 premiere in Vienna by the Arditti String Quartet. Composer-performer Bryars comes from a very diverse background, working with musicians such as Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, John Cage, Cornelius Cardew, Brian Eno, and Tom Waits. The title, 'Between the National and the Bristol,' comes from a story wherein, unknown to each of them, the three most famous dancers of the early 20th century were staying in hotels in vienna. Maud Allan was at the Hotel National, Mata Hari was at the Hotel Bristol, and Isadora Duncan was staying "somewhere between the National and the Bristol". Our quartet, however, insists that this piece is about trains.

The ISQ consists of violinists Elizabeth Warren and Travis Weller, violist James Alexander, and cellist Steve Bernal. The ensemble was formed in January of 2001 to explore ideas for openly composed, experimental and improvised musics in the context of a traditional string quartet. Since its inception, the quartet has performed numerous times in central Texas, recorded soundtracks for film and theatre, collaborated with world renowned improvisers such as John Butcher, and premiered new works by many composers.