Biography

Adrian Steele  -  violin
Phoenix Avalon  -  violin
Devon Moore  -  viola
Joshua McClendon  -  cello

The Isidore String Quartet, formed just six years ago, is based in New York City and is heavily influenced by the iconic Juilliard String Quartet. The four musicians began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School, and, following a break during the global pandemic reconvened in the summer of 2021. The Isidore Quartet’s prizes and awards include First Prize at the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022 and the Avery Fisher Career Grant the following year. The Banff triumph brought extensive tours of North America and Europe, a two-year appointment as the Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas (2023-24), and a two-week residency at the Banff Centre, including a professionally produced recording. Beyond the concert hall, the Quartet has worked with Project: Music Heals Us, which provides encouragement, education, and healing to marginalized communities like the elderly, disabled, incarcerated, and homeless who have limited access to high-quality live music performances. The name Isidore recognizes the ensemble’s musical connection to the Juilliard Quartet, one of whose early members was the legendary violinist Isidore Cohen. In addition, the Quartet acknowledges a shared affection for a certain libation: legend has it that a Greek monk named Isidore concocted the first genuine vodka recipe for the Grand Duchy of Moscow! LMMC debut.

https://www.isidorestringquartet.com/

Notes

No composer contributed more to the development of the string quartet than Haydn. His eighty-some works in this genre, in both quantity and quality, stand as a monument in the history of music. The six quartets of Op. 76 were written in the late 1790s.They are widely regarded as among the finest examples of the genre (the famous Quinten and Emperor Quartets also belong to this set).

The nickname “Sunrise” (not Haydn’s) probably comes from the effect of the first violin’s initial statement, rising over a solid horizon provided by the remaining three instruments. This is but the first element of a 21-measure subject containing more than enough material to sustain an entire movement. The deeply-felt Adagio too is based on a single subject, in this case consisting merely of a progression of five chords. The minuet movement lifts the spirits after the profound Adagio and again is based on repetition and development of one idea. The catchy tune that opens the finale is thought to be based on an English folk song.

Like many of Beethoven’s compositions written during his first decade in Vienna (1792-1802, the six quartets of Op. 18 are Janus-faced works revealing their stylistic debt to the Viennese tradition of Haydn and Mozart, but also indicating new directions in which Beethoven was headed. These include the transferal of the weightiest movement from the first to the finale, the unsettling rhythmic displacements of the scherzo (“Where’s the beat?”), and the overall robustness of the writing.

Dvořák’s chamber music output ranks as one of his greatest achievements, with his last two string quartets (Opp. 105 and 106) generally regarded as among the finest after Beethoven’s. The first movement of Op. 106, composed in 1895, is laid out on a large scale, yet its main theme, announced in the opening measures, is built from mere scraps of material: two upward bounds, a trill, and a descending series of arpeggios in triplets. Individually and together, these fragments will permeate the movement. The slow movement is built from a single theme of great expressivity and ravishing beauty. The third movement in B minor is a scherzo in all but name, full of driving energy and irrepressible momentum. Two contrasting lyrical episodes alternate with the main subject, imparting an overall formal design of ABACA. The vigorous finale offers a wealth of melodic material, including the return of both main themes (in reverse order) from the first movement.

Robert Markow