Quartet San Francisco: A QSF Journey
Reference Recordings

The standard string quartet recording features the group in question tackling works by familiar names like Bartók, Schumann, Schoenberg, or Beethoven; far rarer is the recording where the set-list is dominated by a quartet member. That's only one thing that distances Quartet San Francisco's A QSF Journey from the string quartet norm; in addition, many of this eclectic recording's pieces eschew conventional classical style for others, specifically tango, bluegrass, and folk music from around the world. Such choices lend the recording a highly personalized quality that, paired with the excellence of the quartet's playing, makes the hour spent in this group's company time well spent.

Founded in 2001 by violinist Jeremy Cohen and including violinist Joseph Christianson, violist Chad Kaltinger, and cellist Andrés Vera, Quartet San Francisco makes its first appearance on Reference Recordings after seeing its last four CDs garner eight Grammy nominations, three of them, appropriately enough, in the ‘Best Classical Crossover' category. Though tango is but one of the styles presented on A QSF Journey, the chamber group would appear to be tango specialists of a kind: in 2004, for example, the group won the Argentine Consulate's ‘International Tango Competition' in New York City. As mentioned, the album upholds the group's crossover reputation in its set-list, with nine of the twelve written or arranged by Cohen. Adding to the recording's appeal is the fact that eleven of them are concise, song-like settings rich in melody and lasting two to five minutes at a time.

Cohen's “Tango Eight” gets things off to a bright, Piazzolla-esque start with dance-like rhythms executed with metronomic precision; for his other overtly tango-titled setting, the romantic “Tango Carnevale,” he drew for inspiration from evenings spent in Buenos Aires in 2004, memories that obviously brought forth feelings of nostalgia and longing. And though Cohen wrote “Francini” in dedication to tango violinist Enrique Mario Francini (1916­1978), who died on stage while leading his band during a performance, the piece is hardly funereal; instead, it exudes affection in its joyous expression. Elsewhere, Cohen draws from the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” for the title of “How Sweet the Sound,” a plaintive, gospel-tinged paean to simpler times.

The pieces by other composers fit comfortably alongside Cohen's. German-Canadian composer and violinist Helmut Lipsky put that exclamation mark in “Fiesta!” for a reason, as evidenced by the tune's exultant joie de vivre, whereas Giovanni Sollima, an Italian cellist and composer born in 1962, is represented by the stabbing rhythmic drive and melodic sweep of “Federico II,” the album's longest at ten minutes. It's capped by a three-song foray into Cohen arrangements of folk-song material from China, Mongolia, and Africa. Even without the clarification that “Jasmine Flower/Beautiful Scenery of Wuxi” is based on well-known Chinese traditionals, one would likely guess as much, so vividly does its graceful melodies evoke the image of erhu and pipa players performing the material. The quartet's well-honed command of rhythm is put to the test by the Mongolian folk song “Toroi Bandi,” which sees the group alternating rapid patterns with vocal shout-outs, and the traditional African folk song “Jambo,” whose lilting, sing-song swing brings the album to a delightful close.

November 2018