Catalyst String Quartet to open Santa Fe Pro Musica series

Oct. 12—A catalyst is an agent that provokes or precipitates significant change.

Seeking to reimagine classical music, the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst String Quartet opens Santa Fe Pro Musica's string quartet series on Sunday, Oct. 13, at St. Francis Auditorium, in Santa Fe.

The New York-based quartet was founded by the Sphinx Organization, a nonprofit group dedicated to the development of young Black and Latino classical musicians.

The program ranges from the tango of Astor Piazzolla to Gershwin and Ravel.

"Ravel was someone who embraced the world through classical music," said Colin Jacobsen, Pro Musica artistic director. "Their program is embracing this."

The concert will open with the Argentinian dance music of Paquito D'Rivera, a Cuban American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer, followed by Astor Piazzolla's "Suite del ángel." His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. The suite is described as a smoky tavern tango with a lamenting melody.

Ravel's String Quartet in F is modelled on that of Claude Debussy's String Quartet, written in 1893, although Ravel's musical ideas strongly contrast with Debussy's. The composer completed the piece in early April 1903 at the age of 28.

"The Ravel is the most luscious, perfectly crafted dancing piece," Jacobsen said. "There's a lot of influence of flamenco music in the second movement."

The Gershwin piece is a lullaby.

"It's a short gem of a lullaby for string quartet," Jacobsen said. "Gershwin was also influenced by Ravel."

The composer's Lullaby of 1919 was conceived at the keyboard. The one-movement work was then scored for string quartet and became a favorite at the private musicales held by Gershwin's friends. The melody of the piece took on a second life as an aria in his opera "Blue Monday." For the next four decades, revivals of "Blue Monday" provided the melody's only appearance. It wasn't until 1967 that the original string quartet received its first public performance in the hands of the Juilliard String Quartet.