String quartet takes a spiritual journey

The New Zealand String Quartet made an auspicious Twin Cities debut Sunday as part of the Music in the Park series in St. Paul. The program included two premieres by women composers juxtaposed with a sublime late quartet of Beethoven. It added up to a profound spiritual journey.

The journey began with Wisconsin native and Twin Cities resident Janika Vandervelde’s Monapacataca, her String Quartet No. 1. Using the story of an American Indian chief from the Green Lake region of Wisconsin, whose name means “the one who loves his home so much,” she takes listeners on a nostalgic tour of the area where she herself grew up.

Though it’s only her first quartet, Vandervelde demonstrated a sure hand with the form. The four movements of the programmatic work are a series of canons depicting landscapes and seasons, from the bubbling brooks of Mitchell’s Glen in spring to an effectively extended depiction of the long Wisconsin winter.

She fills her work with ear-catching melodies and makes virtuosic demands on the players that are thrilling to watch. At the same time, the music inspires a deeper emotional exploration of the nature of home. This easily accessible work demanded to be appreciated on many levels.

This reflective mood was continued with Hin-pu-te-hue by New Zealand composer Gillian Whitehead. Part of a cycle of works reclaiming the traditions of the Maori (the indigenous people of New Zealand), this one celebrates the goddess of peace.

The quartet was joined by Richard Nunns, playing traditional Maori instruments, everything from wood flutes and shell horns to jade gongs and gourds both shaken and blown. The sense of quietude that might have been expected from a work commemorating peace seemed oddly lacking as sophisticated contemporary sonorities interwove with the ancient sounds. But together they created an eerily haunting and compelling aural landscape.

The sense of spiritual yearning continued after the intermission with Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor, Opus 132. This is Beethoven at his most mature. It is a monumental work, both in terms of length and depth. The central slow movement is one of the most effective in all Beethoven’s chamber literature. It is a hymn of deep reverence after his recovery from a serious illness. The music hangs suspended in an aura of peace and radiance that the performers capture.

The quartet had the virtuosity to handle the passionate outbursts in the first and fifth movements and the wit to exploit the playful dance parodies of the second and fourth.