The Ciompi Quartet: Sol Variations

Featuring Gabrielius Alekna, piano

Our resident ensemble, The Ciompi Quartet, begins their season this evening with a quartet by Haydn, reviving a Ciompi tradition. They follow with a dynamic set of comparatively contemporary works by three female composers. Sofia Gubaidulina and Shelley Washington both organized their works around Sol (the pitch G), but they go in remarkably different directions. Gubaidulina probes the question "existence vs. essence" whereas Washington explores a place she calls "Home of the Heart, Heart of the Home." Revered Polish composer Graźyna Bacewicz gave us one of the best piano quintets of the era: romantic, dramatic, forward-looking.