Too-similar programming drags down JACK Quartet at 92nd Street Y

The JACK Quartet

By David Wolfson, 11 November 2024

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“eventually sank under the weight of its own pretensions”

Reviewed at The 92nd Street Y: Buttenwieser Hall, New York City on 10 November 2024

Aguilar, Hyper

Farhat, Aporias

Seo, Three Imaginary Chansons

Cheung, New work (world premiere)

JACK Quartet

Christopher Otto, Violin

Austin Wullman, Violin

John Pickford Richards, Viola

Jay Campbell, Cello

Guitars, electronics and ancient treatises: the JACK Quartet at 92NY

Kurt Gottschalk, 20th March

At 92NY, the JACK Quartet performs four new works developed in their JACK Studio, including a commissioned premiere from the electrifying Tristan Perich.

****1

JACK Quartet puts Boulez in broader context

Kurt Gottschalk, 12th March

The JACK Quartet frames its recital at Symphony Space on Manhattan’s Upper West Side around the Pierre Boulez centennial.

*****

The JACK Quartet’s thing with strings could launch a revolution

Christopher Woodley, 11th May

At Wigmore Hall, the JACK Quartet's sonic mastery gives a lift to Liza Lim and threatens to start a carrot revolution.

****1

A Feldmanesque meditation by Tyshawn Sorey

Kurt Gottschalk, 16th December

It was like a quiet day in a sunny room. The air was still, shadows and colors changed as the sun moved across the sky, but nothing inside the room ever actually moved.

*****

Spirit of Delight: Iannis Xenakis celebrated at the Southbank Centre

Christopher Woodley, 8th October

The Greek composer's centenary is marked by the London Sinfonietta, Colin Currie Group and the JACK Quartet.

*****

JACK slows time at Time:Spans

Kurt Gottschalk, 25th August

An insistently slow premiere by Eric Wubbels is followed by a longer work by Catherine Lamb which makes the former sound almost like a calypso.

*****

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David Wolfson

David Wolfson holds a PhD in composition from Rutgers University, and has taught at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Hunter College. He is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show. You can find more information here.