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There’s an old Shaker dance number, written in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett, that likely serves as inspiration for the Chicago/New York chamber quartet Till by Turning. It’s called “Simple Gifts,” and what it describes is a kind of serendipitous joy in movement through time and space: “When true simplicity is gain’d / To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d / To turn, turn will be our delight / Till by turning, turning we come round right.” The group belongs to a new generation of adventurous musicians bringing contemporary music to clubland. Along with such fellow travelers as So Percussion and Peacock Recordings labelmates Anti-Social Music, the players dip into the modern canon (their set list includes Morton Feldman, Sofia Gubaidulina and James Tenney) and give breath to new works by their peers.
This weekend Till by Turning hits three separate venues on successive evenings for concerts built around the piece Quotidian, written by New York viola player and composer Jessica Pavone—best known for her work in a charming duo with guitarist Mary Halvorson, and as part of post-jazz wizard Anthony Braxton’s recent ensembles. The piece features four movements, each written with specific instrumental textures in mind: The opening and closing sections sport the quartet—Amy Cimini (viola), Erica Dicker (violin), Emily Manzo (piano) and Katherine Young (bassoon)—with middle sections for string trio and piano/bassoon. Pavone’s notes for the piece emphasize the way natural phenomena, like the weather and the quickening of light into shadow, act as filters for our consciousness. Evoking both the elemental and the transcendental, Till by Turning promises to be anything but commonplace.
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