ISIDORE STRING QUARTET
REPERTOIRE
Repertory list for 2023-24 Season
Master List of Pieces offered:
Bach: Contrapunctus 1-4 from Art of the Fugue
Bartok: String Quartet No 1 (available through Dec 31, 2023)
Beethoven: Quartet in A-minor, Op. 132
Beethoven: Quartet in Eb-Major, Op. 127
(Beethoven 127 available after March 1, 2024)
Brahms: Quartet in A-minor, Op. 51, No 2 (available through Dec 31, 2023)
Britten: Quartet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 36,
*Billy Childs: String Quartet No 2 “Awakening” (2012)
Haydn: String Quartet in C-Major, Op 20, No 2
Henri Dutilleux: “Ainsi la nuit” (1976)
(Dutilleux available after January 1, 2024)
Mendelssohn: Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 44, No. 3
Mozart: Quartet in C-Major, K 465 (“Dissonance”)
Aida Shirazi: “Umbra” (2017)
*Dinuk Wijeratne: ”Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini” (2022)
* = recording by Isidore Quartet available
Specific suggested programs
Program 1 (“Awakenings”): Haydn 20/2, Childs 2, Beethoven 132
Program 2 (“Fantasy”): Wijeratne; Shirazi; Bach; Britten 2
Program 3: Mozart K 465; Dutilleux; Mendelssohn 44/3
[click the links above for program descriptions]
Please advise us of your preferred program.
Note: other combinations are possible – please let us know your request and we will submit to
Isidore Quartet for review.
March, 2023
Brief program descriptions:
Awakenings:
A definitive aspect of the human experience derives from significant moments of
awareness, acknowledgement, and awakening. From the explorative adventures of
childhood to the inquisitive expedition that is adulthood, the epiphanic nature of life
drastically changes our perception of the world and its inhabitants. The Haydn, Childs,
and Beethoven explore the various responses to notable moments of personal and
compositional awakening in the lives of the individual composers.
Haydn: String Quartet in C-Major, Op 20, No 2
Billy Childs: String Quartet No 2 “Awakening” (2012)
Beethoven: Quartet in A-minor, Op. 132
Fantasy:
Our “Fantasy” program plays with darkness and an imaginative landscape that borders
on escapist at times. Dinuk Wijeratne incorporates verbal cues and staging to bring the
Mona Lisa’s 1911 heist alive. Aida Shirazi’s glacially moving harmonies plumb
microtonal shadows, evoking an eerie atmosphere that recedes almost as quickly as it
appears. Bach creates his own fantastical narrative in Art of the Fugue, stretching the
boundaries of such an inherently rigid structure. And finally, Britten’s Second Quartet,
written in the aftermath of the Second World War, presents a landscape that recalls the
era’s terror while presenting an alternative, dreamlike world of creation that has as its
roots the old chaconnes and fantasies of Purcell.
Dinuk Wijeratne: ”Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini” (2022)
Aida Shirazi: “Umbra” (2017)
Bach: Contrapunctus 1-4 from Art of the Fugue
Britten: Quartet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 36