Fred Broer

Composer, author, and educator Fred Broer presents his String Quartet No. 8, as well as four colorful piano works, on his Navona release FRED BROER: MUSIC FOR STRING QUARTET AND PIANO SOLO.

Broer’s adventurous String Quartet No. 8 is performed masterfully by the New England String Quartet  and is dedicated to the memory of his good friend Hilda Ayer. The first movement “Impetuous” is characterized by a duality of character, with a capricious theme – first heard in the solo violin – opposing an orderly drumbeat ostinato, emerging throughout the movement in a series of dialogues and clashes. The second movement “Fleeting” opens with ethereal tremolos and trills and ambiguous harmonies. The uncertainty of the opening gradually shifts to a character of clarity and calmness expressed through harmonic simplicity. In the final movement “Very animated,” an energetic, stuttering theme is contrasted with a moody lyrical theme. Violent chords that recall the rhythm of the first movement’s drumbeat ostinato, a lyrical ascending chromatic passage, and a final energetic stutter finish the work.

Broer’s selection of Four Piano Pieces, as performed by Karolina Rojahn, showcases his skill in creating compelling musical moods and atmospheres. Piano Piece No. 2 undergoes abrupt and extreme changes of mood, from casual meandering to dramatic furor to dreamy simplicity. Piano Piece No. 6 is a playful scherzo, casting repetitive staccato motives against spritely interjections in the extreme registers of the piano, with a mischievous whirring theme at the piece’s beginning and end. In Piano Piece No. 5, a sparkling, driven theme is contrasted with a dense trudging theme in the piano’s lower register. A dark and mysterious theme takes center stage in Piano Piece No. 8, where it is contrasted with an agitated theme. At the piece’s end, a wispy ascending line washes away the dark theme and disappears into the distance.