By Sarah McMillin, Staff Writer
The SU Bridge Quartet performed a recital for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 25 in Stretansky Concert Hall.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was on Jan. 27, is held to commemorate Holocaust victims and remember the historical genocide. In honor of the theme, the group played “Europe During the War” from Steve Reich’s piece “Different Trains.”
“The idea for the piece came from my childhood,” Reich wrote in the composer’s notes for the work. “When I was one year old, my parents separated.”
“My mother moved to Los Angeles and my father stayed in New York,” Reich continued. “Since they arranged divided custody, I travelled back and forth by train frequently between New York and Los Angeles from 1939 to 1942, accompanied by my governess. While the trips were exciting and romantic at the time, I now look back and think that, if I had been in Europe during this period, as a Jew I would have had to ride very different trains.”
While performing, the group was accompanied by a recording with personal testimonials from different voices of the Holocaust. The testimonials were also shown on a screen so that audience members could read along with the audio.
Junior Ali Hordeski said she appreciated the way the audio was handled and presented.
“Reich’s pieces often have a multimedia element that accompanies the music,” Hordeski said. “I liked how they had the words up, so we could understand what the testimonials were saying, even when they were frantic and hard to hear.”
Additionally, the quartet also invited junior Josh Appell, the president of Hillel, to speak for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Appell reflected on his visit to an old concentration camp during his GO trip and how the effects of the Holocaust still must be respected and remembered.
The Progression style of the concert consisted of seven movements from works of various eras, with each piece segueing into the next.
Other pieces performed were “Poco Adagio-Allegro” from “String Quartet in E-flat major (‘Harp’), Op.74” by Ludwig van Beethoven, “ Assez vif-Tres rhythme” from “String Quartet in g minor” by Maurice Ravel, “Opening Diptych” from “String Quartet No. 1 (‘American Dreams’)” by Peter Schickele, “Allegro” from “Quartet No. 8 in F, K. 168” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Contrapunctus I” from “The Art of the Fugue” by Johann Sebastian Bach and “Lento-Presto al Saltarello” from “String Quartet No. 1 in g minor” by Edvard Grieg.
The quartet is composed of Associate Professor of Music Jennifer Sacher Wiley and Johanna Hartman Levi on violin, Ofir Tomer on viola and Andrew Rammon on cello. The group has previously performed at Susquehanna, most recently last fall in a recreation of a historical concert riot.