After two full seasons as the quartet-in-residence at Utah State University, the Fry Street Quartet will finally be making its official Salt Lake debut Thursday as part of the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City's roster of ensembles.
"We're thrilled to be finally performing there in a public capacity," said violinist Rebecca McFaul.
It was a private concert for the Chamber Music Society's board of directors last year that led to the ensemble being invited to be part of the series' 2004-05 season. "They liked how we played and asked us to come back," McFaul said.
The Fry Street Quartet, or FSQ as they like to be called, has an eclectic program lined up. There are only two works on the program, but they are worlds apart in style, content and technique.
The concert will open with Ned Rorem's String Quartet No. 4. The work was written for the Emerson String Quartet, which premiered it in 1995, the year after it was composed. "It's very evocative," McFaul said. "The quartet is in 10 brief movements based on paintings by Picasso."
A big fan of Rorem's music, McFaul said he has a distinctive language. "He's always tonal, even when his music gets extremely chromatic. Some critics consider his music sentimental, but that doesn't bother me. He has his own self-imposed rules, and he manages to do a lot within those confines."
FSQ recently recorded Rorem's Fourth Quartet. "We really are committed to it," McFaul said, adding that the CD should be available in January.
The second half of Thursday's concert is devoted to one of Brahms' chamber masterpieces, the Piano Quintet in F minor, op. 34. "Ned wouldn't like being paired with Brahms, because he hates anything German," McFaul joked. "But the F minor is such an utterly delicious, melodic work."
Joining the quartet for the Brahms will be pianist Eugene Albulescu. "We've played the same work with him twice before," McFaul said. "We like him. He's a marvelous pianist and a very expressive player."
McFaul said that she and her colleagues have enjoyed their residency in Logan. "We just started our third season here. It's marvelous to have a base and be able to give concerts without always having to travel."
She said that the music department at Utah State is impressive. "The string department is growing and the piano department is quite strong. The students are marvelous. And since we all like teaching, we've been enjoying our residency in Logan, and we've tried to be a musical force in the community."
Since they're considered part-time faculty members, the foursome has the flexibility to travel and perform as much as they want. They just returned from a lengthy tour in Europe that took them to the Mozartgemeinde in Austria, among other venues.
Next year, FSQ will take part in two high-profile local series. In January, they'll be performing at the Juniper Chamber Music Festival in Logan. The quartet will be joined by pianist Joseph Kalichstein in the Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat major for one of the festival concerts. And quartet violist Russell Fallstad will collaborate with Pinchas Zuckerman in the two string sextets by Brahms.
And the group has been invited to perform in April at the Madeleine Festival of the Arts and Humanities in the Cathedral of the Madeleine. The program for that concert includes music by Haydn, Britten and Dvorak. "We're looking forward to being a part of the festival. We feel that we finally have a presence here in Salt Lake City," said McFaul.
FSQ has been around for a number of years. It was formed in 1997 in Chicago. McFaul and Fallstad are the only original members left. They and violinist Jessica Guideri and cellist Anne Francis have been together now as a group for 3 1/2 years.
McFaul said that the quartet came about by happenstance. "Russell and I had played quartets together in graduate school. Then we asked some friends to join us and we'd play some pieces together. And it seemed that we always had some concerts on our schedule."
They eventually realized that they wanted to pursue a career as a quartet, but the other two weren't as eager. "So we reorganized and brought in two other players." Replacing a recently disbanded quartet in Chamber Music America's "Rural Residencies" program, FSQ found itself in Hickory, N.C. Playing concerts in every conceivable venue was a step in the right direction for them. "That was when we realized we were a quartet," McFaul said.
The group's big break, however, came when Isaac Stern took notice of them. "We went to Jerusalem, and Mr. Stern took a liking to us."
The quartet ended up playing for members of the Emerson Quartet, Leon Fleisher and Stern. "It was intimidating having them listen to us." But the trip to Jerusalem paid off handsomely for the four young musicians. After they returned to the United States, Stern arranged their Carnegie Hall debut in the fall of 2001. "He did that and also many other things for us."
Back when the quartet was new and just starting out, it didn't have a name. "We had a concert coming up, and they told us we needed to find a name," McFaul said. "At that time, Russell and I had apartments on Fry St. in Chicago. One day he looked out the window and saw the street sign and said, 'Why don't we call ourselves the Fry Street Quartet?' And the name stuck with us."
If you go. . .
What: Fry Street Quartet
Where: Libby Gardner Concert Hall
When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $15
Phone: 561-3999
E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com