Brooklyn Rider alive and rocking at Wigmore Hall

Brooklyn Rider

By Christopher Woodley, 10 July 2023

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“the players showed themselves to be as adept in watercolours as they are in pen-and-ink”

Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 8 July 2023

Shaw, Entr'acte

Hemphill, Better Get Hit In Your Soul

Jacobsen, BTT

Gershwin, Lullaby

Dvořák, String Quartet no. 12 in F major, "American", Op.96

Brooklyn Rider

Johnny Gandelsman, Violin

Colin Jacobsen, Violin

Nicholas Cords, Viola

Michael Nicolas, Cello

Wendy Whelan / Brian Brooks: Some of a Thousand Words

Jaime Robles, 29th November

The body as it moves, in all its human vulnerability, is never free of emotion. Wendy Whelan and Brian Brooks collaborate on Some of A Thosand Words, performed in San Francisco.

*****

A Bridled Ride with Brooklyn Rider

Sofia Nyblom, 26th April

New York-based string quartet Brooklyn Rider epitomizes the new movement within classical music which advocates ‘unfettered’ performances and a contemporarly look, and has built a following on this image.

****1

Michel van der Aa “Up-close” and personal at White Light Festival

Rebecca Lentjes, 28th October

Monday evening at Lincoln Center’s annual White Light Festival, audience-goers were sucked into the multi-media universe of Michel van der Aa. The concert, which featured four of Mr. van der Aa’s compositions, took place in the darkened ballroom of the Manhattan Center, running to a bit over an hour with no intermission. Three solo works, each about ten minutes long, were paired with the U.S.

***11

(Le) Poisson Rouge celebrates Elliott Carter

Kay Kempin, 13th January

Elliott Carter was a real maverick composer. Born into the era of Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives and Arnold Schoenberg, Carter went onto to create an exciting world of new music in the 20th and 21st century. Never slowing down, Carter composed over 40 new works between the ages of 90 and 100. The result: Carter’s music is current and exciting today... and he has an incredible repertoire of music.

****1

Metropolitan Museum Artists bring Adams and Dvořák to life

Amanda Keil, 12th May

The loosely-affiliated Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, now in its ninth season at the museum, illustrates all that is good about music-making among friends – and even family members. Two sets of siblings and numerous old friends were on stage for a concert of music inspired by the completion of the museum’s new wing of American art.

****1

Johnny Loves Johann, unevenly at the Joyce Theater

Carla Escoda, 14th April

Acclaimed violinist and 2024 MacArthur Fellow Johnny Gandelsman invited four choreographers to join him on a marathon through Bach's six cello suites. His musicianship was the highlight of the evening.

***11

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Christopher Woodley

Christopher’s professional background is in the public sector, and includes a spell in music librarianship. A composer, he is a keen follower of contemporary music and has attended all but four editions of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, including the first concert in 1978. Other musical passions include a fascination with the “bad boys” of the New Complexity fixation, particularly the god-like Brian Ferneyhough – arguably the best thing to have come out of Coventry. When not listening to Boulez, Christopher relaxes by frequenting the fields, orchards, woodlands and pubs on the Weald of Kent, where he lives.

The String Quartet in New York City: Brooklyn Rider confirms it's alive and rocking