Tana Quartet – Minimalismore

Quatuor Tana premieres a Glass quartet.

The Palais des Beaux-Arts or Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels, popularly known as Bozar, will offer tomorrow, Saturday, at 5.30 p.m., the world premiere of Philip Glass‘ String Quartet No. 9, to be performed by the Tana Quartet, in a programme that will also include Caroline Shaw’s And So – the second of the three pieces in the Is a Rose trilogy that the American composer wrote for the Swedish mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra – and Franz Schubert’s String Quartet, No. 14 in D minor, D. 810, known as Death and the Maiden. The same programme will be repeated at the Bozar on Saturday 15th at 20:30 and Sunday 16th, and on January 18th, 19th, 23rd, 28th and 29th, respectively, in the French cities of Valenciennes, Bourges, Arras and Lyon, where it will be offered on 28th and 29th, concluding a week of Marathon Glass, paying tribute to the Baltimore composer on the occasion of his forthcoming 85th birthday, which he will celebrate on January 31st.

Consulted the Tana Quartet via their Instagram account, their violist, Julie Michael, confirms that, although the music for String Quartet No. 9 was composed for Sam Gold’s Broadway production of King Lear in February 2019 (starring Glenda Jackson), the work to be heard at the Bozar in Brussels is a world premiere. “The new piece is indeed based on the Broadway version from 2019, but there are differences between the two –explains Michael–: the new version has different orchestrations, and the sections are in a different order, so it makes a cohesive musical narrative. It is a concert version, rather than background music to a play. We are very excited to bring this music to a wider audience and hope you will enjoy listening to the album!”. The Tana Quartet violist is referring to the album released today by the Belgian label Soond Records, which includes Philip Glass’ String Quartets NOs. 8 and 9. Tana Quartet has been releasing this year, one by one, through digital platforms such as Spotify, the seven previous String Quartets.