Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) - Quartet No. 5 "Rosa Parks" Daniel Bernard Roumain 's fifth string quartet, "Rosa Parks" , was a pleasant surprise to hear on QuartetES 's program. The three movement work never lost energy throughout the performance due to the quartet's impeccable chamber playing and Roumain's masterful application of formal structure. I honestly felt that the first movement "I made up my mind not to move" truly lives up to its name. While listening, I kept expected to lose interest due to the repetitiveness of the active rhythms and seemingly simple descending ground bassline. However, Roumain's slow development to the musical material may not literally move, but it did certainly move the audience.  "I made up my mind not to move"  could literally be added into the middle of a DJ's house playlist, and no one at the party would bat an eye, and if anything they would jam harder. The mathematical changes prope...

Elena Ruehr -  Quartet No. 8 "Insect Dances" Elena Ruehr 's eighth string quartet is exactly what one expects and hopes for from a 21st century piece of programmatic music. In the form of a six-movement dance suite, each movement of the quartet depicts various insects, a spider, dragonfly, wasp, bumblebee, ladybug, and grasshopper respectfully. Ruehr's colorful portrait makes each bug instantly audible, even to the most amateur and naïve audience members. Engaging character themes and motives, along with a clear formal structure allow Ruehr's goal of Insect Dances  to be a piece of memorable contemporary classical music for children to come to full fruition. Ruehr calls these insect melodies 'tunes', although they are often too developed and harmonically intricate to be easily singable, not that that is at all a pejorative aspect. The only complaint I have with Ruehr's incredibly captivating string quartet is the at times uncomfortably cliché endings t...