Take a trip back in time to an era of musical inspiration with the Microcosmos String Quartet's performance of 20th century pieces at the Brackendale Art Gallery Saturday June 12.
Widely praised musicians Marc Destrub茅 on violin, Andrea Siradze on violin, Tawnya Popoff on viola and cellist Peggy Lee specializes perform the elevating compositions.
Destrub茅 said pieces performed by a string quartet are always the most dramatic.
"All the great composers, sort of reserve all of their deepest thinking and feeling for string quartet. The string quartet is wonderfully complex but intimate formation."
Microcosmos String Quartet focus performances on such notable names as Bartok, Shostakovich and R. Murray Schafer.
"I wanted to form a quartet in Vancouver that would play music by composers written in the last 100 years because there's a lot of really great music that was written at that time that isn't played very much," said Destrub茅.
"You hear a lot of Mozart and Beethoven and not so much of Bartok and Shostakovich, who are equally great composers."
The musicians will briefly introduce each piece in the two hour-long performance, highlighting its historical significance.
Destrub茅 said Bartok drew inspiration from traditional Hungarian folk songs and Shostakovich was constantly teetering on the edge of approval with the Soviet regime. Schafer is a Canadian who currently resides in Ontario.
"He's probably the greatest Canadian composer," said Destrub茅, a first violinist with the Axelrod String Quartet at the Smithsonian Institution.
Schafer wrote his first quartet while teaching at Simon Fraser University during the 1970s and has since written a dozen more.
"He's not only a really important composer of the 20th century but also a really great thinker of music in 20th century."
Destrub茅 leads the ensemble made up of Vancouverites Siradze and Lee, well known as great chamber musicians, and New Yorker Popoff, the Vancouver Opera's principle viola.
"They're musicians who have a lot of experience playing chamber music and quartet."
Microcosmos, which derives its name from Hungarian composer Bella Bartok's famous collection of piano pieces, focuses on performing 20th century music in intimate settings, private households, and small venues like the BAG.
Another advantage to performing in a quartet, said Destrub茅, is a quartet performance can be set up nearly anywhere.
"You can take it anywhere because you only need four chairs, you don't need a piano or amplification or anything like that."
The Microcosmos String Quartet show starts at 8 p.m. at the Brackendale Art Gallery on Saturday June 12. Admission costs $20 and tickets can be purchased at The Book Shelf or at the BAG.
