Shanghai Quartet, Apr 19 2026

Ben and I heard the Shanghai Quartet at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on April 19, 2026. There were four pieces on the program: Haydn, Dun, Gershwin, and Dvořák.

They opened with the Haydn quartet in G minor, "The Rider." The first movement was elegant with a spring in its step. There were two highlights in the second movement - - it was a joy to hear Haydn develop his musical ideas and the first violinist had some charming moments of display. The final movement bristled with amusing drama.

I think the only Tan Dun music I'd heard was his score for *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.* His first string quartet, titled "Feng Ya Song" ("Ballade - Ode - Hymn") was his way of morphing the Western classical music tradition with native Chinese sounds and forms. It was angular, abstract, and atonal, but crafted in a way to still make it engaging and exciting. Ben noticed that the second movement had "relatively conventional harmonies." It was a thrilling piece, I'd love to hear more of his music. And what a joy to hear a Chinese string quartet playing it.

Here's the quartet playing it a few years ago, introduced by Dun himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RD4ryxRPuDvlU&v=4ryxRPuDvlU

The second half started with Gershwin's only piece for string quartet, the "Lullaby." I had this piece on LP back in the 80s and was excited to hear it live. It's a sweet little piece, only nine minutes long, a perfect little sorbet between courses.

The last piece on the program was the Dvořák quartet in F major, "The American." This piece seemed to highlight their cohesion as a quartet. I was good friends with the Chiara Quartet and they explained to me that a really good string quartet that's been playing together for years should really be a single organism. It gets to the point where they're not even aware of listening to or reacting to each other, it just becomes second nature. That's what happened in the Dvořák, it was a joy to hear this great music played with such skill, unity, and sense of purpose.

I was listening to the Dvořák and thought I would love to hear them play Beethoven. They took three bows and then sat down to play an encore. Their second violinist announced the piece - - all I heard was Beethoven but Ben knew the piece, said it was the cavatina from the opus 130 quartet #13. It was warm and rich, a loving finish to a wonderful concert.