INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

New Century String Quartet and guests

Four stars
Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center; March 31

Another wonderful evening of music at the University of Indianapolis! Only three works made up this program, but they were varied, interesting and different, so my ears were quite pleased. Critic’s Corner (Fivesome for percussion and string quartet) was an interesting work, with each movement made to poke light fun at the music critic. I wasn’t particularly keen on the music, which seemed to say very little, yet titles of movements such as “The self-indulgent sentimentalist” kept me rather entertained. Dean Franke, the first violinist of NCSQ, composed the middle work of the evening, his string trio For Wolfgang. I found this work to be quite warm and lush at times, with hints here and there of Ravel. It was aurally engaging and unique all the way through. The evening closed with Ottorino Resphigi’s Il Tramonto, a work for soprano and string quartet. It’s such a shame that we hear Resphigi’s orchestral works more than anything else, because his chamber works are simply wonderful, and the NCSQ and soprano Mitzi Westra gave a wonderful performance.