SHATTER | THE ARTS FUSE - REVIEW

October Short Fuses — Materia Critica

by Jonathan Blumhofer

October 2023

Is the string quartet the most versatile ensemble and genre out there? Shatter, the Verona Quartet’s new album (Bright Shiny Things), suggests that both are at least immensely flexible. While the disc’s aims are high — to provide an “opportunity to break through and rebuild our interactions with an increasingly complex world,” as the liner notes have it — the recording also demonstrates just how durable this instrumentation is.

Each of its three pieces offer distinctive perspectives.

Reena Esmail’s Ragamala explores the intersection of Western and Indian musical traditions. Essentially nods to four types of Hindustani raags, Esmail’s score is often quite appealing to the ear, even as one might wish that the piece was infused with more of the vigorous type of writing that marks its second and fourth sections. Even so, the lyrical passagework is gorgeous and improvisatory-sounding, and the piece includes — to beguiling effect — a vocal part in each movement. The last are enchantingly sung by Saili Oak.

Meantime, Julia Adolphe’s Star-Crossed Signals investigates themes of isolation, connection, and communication. Taking its cue from the composer’s fascination with nautical signal flags, it contrasts violent, aggressive gestures and dissonant extended techniques in the first movement with gentler, quieter textures in the second. Those culminate in an apotheosis of lyrical unity that, even if it’s half-expected, proves wholly satisfying.

Michale Gilbertson’s 2016 Quartet is a personal response to that year’s presidential election. Seeking, in his words, to “write something comforting,” the composer turned to Sibelius, and the shadow of the Finnish master’s Second Symphony hovers over the opening bars of the present effort.

The structure of the Quartet’s first movement is theme-and-variations-like: contrasting materials appear, are developed, and emerge in new contexts. As in Ragamala, there’s a smart accessibility to Gilbertson’s writing; beneath an alluring surface, he delivers plenty of variety to keep the ears happy. Though the energetic finale (“Simple Sugars”) seems to bustle aimlessly, its textures are Adams-worthy.

In all three works, the Veronas (violinists Jonathan Ong and Dorothy Ro, violins Abigail Rojansky, and cellist Jonathan Dormand) play with gusto. Even at the most frenetic moments, like the tortured climax of Star-Crossed Signals or the finale of the Gilbertson, the performances blaze with confidence and direction.

And the telltale quiet spots — such as the pristine dovetailing in the Esmail or the songful lines in the Adolphe — showcase an ensemble with exceptional finesse and a thoroughgoing understanding of this engaging fare.