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Renaissance meets string quartet

Maureen NelsonCourtesy of the artist

November 16, 2021

Renaissance music is lacking music written specifically for string quartet. String quartets didn't become a "thing" until over a hundred and fifty years after the Renaissance period. So, violinist Maureen Nelson got creative and arranged music from that era for string quartet. On today's show, hear Maureen Nelson and fellow members of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra play that arrangement, the Renaissance Suite.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Michael Torke: Spoon Bread Movement 3
Tessa Lark, violin | Roman Rabinovich, piano
Album: Spoon Bread: Michael Torke
Ecstatic 2018

Clara Schumann, arr. Tim Bradley: Two pieces from Soirées Musicales, Op. 6
Copper Street Brass
Sundin Music Hall, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN

Antonin Dvorak: Miniatures for two violins and viola
Jun Iwasaki, violin | Tessa Lark, violin | Cynthia Phelps, viola
Seattle Chamber Music Society, Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA

Georg Philipp Telemann: Fantasie No. 7 in E-flat major for solo violin
Tessa Lark, violin
Seattle Chamber Music Society, Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA

Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture to Leonore No. 3
ROCO | Michael Stern, conductor
ROCO, St. John the Divine Church, Houston, TX

Hour 2

Frank Martin: Fox Trot
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra | Hugh Wolff, conductor
Album: European American Music
Teldec 90852

Leos Janacek: Pohadka
Joshua Roman, cello | Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Baruch Performing Arts Center at Baruch College, Engelman Recital Hall, New York, NY

Maureen Nelson: Renaissance Suite (2013)
Maureen Nelson, violin
Daria T. Adams, violin
Maiya Papach, viola
Richard Belcher, cello
SPCO, Sundin Hall, Hamline University, Saint Paul, MN

Pietro Locatelli: Sinfonia funebre in F minor
Elliot Figg, harpsichord
Chloe Fedor, violin
Ravenna Lipchik, violin
Stephen Goist, viola
Keiran Campbell, cello
Paul Macres, bass
Joshua Stauffer, lute
Lakes Area Music Festival, Tornstrom Auditorium, Brainerd, MN

Carlos Chavez: Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonia India)
Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw | Christian Vasquez, conductor
Witold Lutoslawski Polish Radio Concert Studio, Warsaw, Poland