Quartet to perform as end of three-year series

Audiences will have a chance to hear two works of Beethoven this Sunday.

The appearance of the American String Quartet is the final concert of a three-year residency for the "Beethoven the Contemporary" series. The residency allowed students to work with the group through the University Musical Society, School of Music and Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts.

The last concert will juxtapose the works of Beethoven and Ruth Porter Crawford Seeger, two composers who aroused storms of controversy. Beethoven was considered a rebel in his day, departing from the established norms and producing massive works which defied classification. For her part, Seeger drew from the firebrand technique of Arnold Schoenberg in the 1920s.

The Quartet will perform Beethoven's Quartet in C Minor, Op.18, No.4, and the Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74, composed in 1801 and 1809, respectively. Quartet, written in 1931, will be Crawford's contribution to the Sunday afternoon performance.

The Aspen Music Festival serves as the group's summer home, while students at the Manhattan School of Music work under the Quartet's academic endeavors.

The Quartet received a National Arts Endowment grant for their work on college campuses across the country.

The richness and complexity of the music and the revolutionary spirit of the composers will draw the residency of the American String Quartet to a memorable conclusion.

11-05-99