The Tanglewood Music Festival has long been a summertime staple in the music world, a venue jam-packed with notable artists and performers and great music for its guests. This year, PARMA composer Eleanor Alberga is in the mix, as her works find their home on the festival’s stage.
As performers actively search for music to include in their programs, PARMA often suggests arrangements that may be a good fit, representing composers through performance outreach. When the Tanglewood Music Center Fellows received a catered collection of suggestions from PARMA for their upcoming performance, it was Alberga’s String Quartet no 3 that resonated the most. Alberga, who has received honors and commissions from Queen Elizabeth, BBC Proms, and The Royal Opera in her native Britain, released this piece on her 2019 Navona Records album — STRING QUARTETS 1, 2 & 3.
“Eleanor’s third quartet is a work of immense richness and variety of feeling, colour, rhythm and atmosphere; after some four performances we feel we have just begun to scratch the surface.”
— David Angel, Maggini Quartet
Originally commissioned by the Maggini Quartet, the four movements of Alberga’s String Quartet no 3 contrast with the album’s preceding pieces, mixing tonality with 12-tone elements, bridging styles, and evolving eloquently. The piece will be performed at the Tanglewood Music Center on a program with Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No.1 and Krzysztof Penderecki’s Duo Concertante.
“refreshingly expressive and has an engaging sense of narrative and rhythmic drive”
— Bret McCandless, Black Grooves
Hear Alberga’s String Quartet no 3 performed live by the Tanglewood Music Center Fellows on Saturday, July 18 at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Visit the Tanglewood Music Center website for more information.
