The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
JUPITER STRING QUARTET TO PERFORM AUG. 22
FALLS VILLAGE — The Jupiter String Quartet (Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violinists; Liz Freivogel, viola; and Daniel McDonough, cello) makes its debut at Music Mountain Aug. 22 at 3 p.m., performing a program with works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Florence Price, Felix Mendelssohn, and Judd Greenstein.
The concert will be presented for a live, in-person audience and as a free livestream online, available to watch at www.musicmountain.org in real time and for one week after the performance.
From Music Mountain: Fanny Mendelssohn’s Quartet in E-flat Major was composed in 1834 and is one of the first surviving string quartets written by a woman. Felix Mendelssohn’s Quartet in F minor, Op. 80 – his sixth and final string quartet – was composed in 1847 and is the composer’s last major work completed before his death that same year. Stricken with grief after the loss of his beloved sister Fanny, he wrote this dramatic and heartrending piece as an homage to her memory.
Florence Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint features complex and rich interpretations on simple folk tunes, and of his Four on the Floor, Judd Greenstein notes, “I ask the quartet to sound like a sextet, or perhaps an octet, through the frequent use of double stops (where players play on more than one string at once). The result is a thick texture that’s constantly moving and shifting while the staggered rhythms drive the piece forward. It’s ridiculously virtuosic, requiring remarkable individual energy and endurance and a degree of precision that only a top-rate string quartet can provide.”
The Jupiter is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel, Meg’s older sister, and cellist Daniel McDonough, Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law. Now enjoying their 19th year together, this ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a particular connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartok and Beethoven string quartets on numerous occasions. Also strongly committed to new music, they have commissioned works by Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, Mark Adamo, Pierre Jalbert, and Kati Agócs.
The quartet’s latest album a collaborative recording with the Jasper String Quartet, was released in February 2021 on Marquis Classics. It features the world premiere of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath along with Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round and Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20. Their recent album, Metamorphosis (Marquis Classics, 2020), includes Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 131 and Ligeti’s Quartet No. 1 “Métamorphoses nocturnes.” Other recordings on Marquis include Alchemy with Australian pianist Bernadette Harvey (2019), Shostakovich & Britten (2007), and Mendelssohn & Beethoven (2009). The quartet’s discography also includes releases on Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon.
Music Mountain, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, began as the unique vision of Jacques Gordon, Chicago Symphony concertmaster from 1921 to 1930 and the founding first violinist of the Gordon String Quartet, one of the leading quartets of its time. The buildings at Music Mountain form a well-designed campus in the Colonial Revival style. They were built by Sears, Roebuck & Company’s pre-fabricated housing division and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today, artistic director Oskar EspinaRuiz and Music Mountain’s dedicated board of directors steer Music Mountain through a period of continued growth.
For tickets, go to www.musicmountain .org/event-detail.php?id=21