Collaborations Galore

The Ciompi Quartet has been mixing it up a lot lately. We have always gone out of our way to play works that involve us with interesting guest musicians. But lately we have taken an active role commissioning works with guests that push the boundaries of what string quartets normally do - and with wonderful results!

We premiered a spectacular new piece for quartet and soprano by Scott Lindroth entitled "Nasuh!" during our 2003-2004 season. It is a dramatic setting of a verse-story by the Persian poet Rumi. The matchless Susan Narucki gave a stunning performance at Duke's Nelson Room. Judging by the enthusiasm of both audience and performers, Lindroth's creation will be heard a good deal more in the next few years.

Coming also in 2004- albeit from a very different source - were Mark Kuss's "Lullabys" for quartet and voice. The 20-minute work presents a series of eights songs favored by the well-known jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon when she is in the Lullaby mood. Freelon had long wanted to bring to the stage some of these ("All the Pretty Little Horses," "A Tisket, a Tasket," "Mary had a Baby"), but not in the customary jazz setting. Kuss obliged with deft, witty arrangements. Freelon connected the songs with a well-developed narrative, sometimes half-sung, that made the work feel both informal and structured. We in the Ciompi Quartet had wanted to work with Nnenna for some time, and this project brought us together in a satisfying way, thanks to the spectacular gifts of composer Kuss, whose uncanny ability to handle new and unusual challenges was once again proven by this project's success.

For the summer of 2003 Mark Kuss composed another work that combined the talents of saxophonist Branford Marsalis and the Ciompi Quartet. We premiered it at Duke's Summer Festival of Music, and at the season opening concert at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro. The 15-minute long "Reminiscence" brought both audiences to their feet, which was not unexpected given the star power present that night. But it also captured a wonderful mood: not quite jazz, absolutely contemporary in feeling, with a sincere, yearning quality. This is a work, and a collaboration, that will be heard again soon, we hope as part of the Ciompi Quartet's 40th anniversary celebrations next year. The concert will include yet another new commission, further expanding the all too small repertoire for this combination.