Vera Quartet, from left: Pedro Rodríguez (violin), Inés Picado Molares (viola), Justin Goldsmith (cello), and Rebecca Anderson (violin). Ryan Brandenberg photograph
Whenever audiences hear “Curtis on Tour,” they know to expect some of music’s brilliant past, as well as some of its promising future.
The Vera Quartet, resident quartet at the venerable Philadelphia conservatory, comes to the Shalin Liu Performance Center this Sunday with pianist Meng-Chieh Liu, longtime Curtis faculty, as part of Rockport Music’s classical season. Vera will perform quartets by Beethoven (Op. 18, no. 4) and Bright Sheng’s “Silent Temple”; Liu joins them for the Franck piano quintet.
The performance extends the touring tradition of the Curtis Institute, which sends its students, faculty and alums world-wide to perform, bringing the profound musicianship of the impossibly tiny conservatory (less than 200 students) to the world. It’s a great tradition, and an unmatched career boost for some students—imagine being a teenage musician, going on tour with Ida Kavafian, Pamela Frank, Peter Wiley or Roberto Díaz.
Not that Vera Quartet needs such a boost. Founded at Indiana University in 2015, the group made a healthy impression on Rockport Music audiences this past summer, performing not only main-stage concerts but pop-up performances as well (Brothers Brew, Second Glance). As resident quartet at Curtis, the group’s mission is to perform, study and grow.
Of the three major works on the program, Vera brings a particular passion to Bright Sheng’s fourth quartet. The Chinese-American Sheng visited an abandoned Buddhist temple in northwest China in the early ’70s, during the Cultural Revolution. Worship was forbidden there; the notorious Red Guard had cleared the temple, and it sat in disused state when the composer visited. He was struck at the time by the crumbling condition, but also the remaining signs of grandeur.
But Sheng didn’t write about that experience for decades. When he did—“Silent Temple” was composed in 2000—-his quartet reflected not only the temple’s passage in time, but his own experiences. The composer has said that the impression it gives is “like a dream.”
“It’s not descriptive of the place,” says Vera’s cellist Justin Goldsmith, “but more fragmented. Not really a recollection, but his imagination of what might have happened there. It’s an ethereal work, soft textures and fleeting moments. But also some violent playing, which makes us think of the army trolling through the temple.”
Vera got a first-hand lesson in the work at Sheng’s own music festival this year.
“We were contacted to play in the festival, which is for new composers,” Goldsmith says. “Sheng selects four or five composers, who bring a single work with them. We were one of the groups that played the works, and then participated in discussions with Sheng and others.” (Composers Jennifer Higdon and David Ludwig also participated this year).
As part of the festival, Vera worked on “Silent Temple” with Sheng. With surprising results.
“Most composers will ask you to go deeper in their vision, when you study with them,” Goldsmith says. “For Sheng, finding more gesture, and color, and less real sound—more otherworldly sounds, something you couldn’t get from the notes, but you could when you heard him sing parts of it—that’s what he wanted. Less like a solid, and more like a liquid.”
It’s a fascinating insight that can only be gained from working with a living composer. Sheng’s “Silent Temple” will be only one part of what promises to be a fulfilling program, coupled with the fourth quartet from Beethoven’s set of six in the opus 18, and Franck’s historic quintet, with it rolling transformation of themes that keep listeners fully engaged throughout.
The Vera Quartet, with pianist Meng-Chieh Liu, performs music of Beethoven, Bright Sheng and Franck on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 3 p.m. in the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Call 978-546-7391 or visit www.rockportmusic.org.