ACMF: Visitors – Echoes from Another Realm

Artists have grappled with death and loss for all of history, and the abstract medium of music often yields the most haunting and sublime interpretations of all. The pieces on this program all deal with death in ways varying from the acceptant solace to defiant rage. 

Minimalist Estonian Composer Arvo Pärt’s music is often tinged with religious meaning. His work, Pari Intervallo, written to commemorate the death of his stepfather, creates simple beauty that evokes images of ascendance to somewhere beyond. Felix Mendelssohn wrote his String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 is doubly touched by loss, written in response to his sister Fanny's passing and the last major piece he wrote before his own death two months later. The tangible despair in and anger in the first two movements shows a man coming to terms with the unthinkable.

As modern society grapples with death come too soon and often brought unjustly, composer Carlos Simon's An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave eloquently captures the sense of loss many have felt in recent years. The concert closes with Beethoven's "Ghost" Trio, so named because of its eerie second movement that gives the impression of a supernatural visitor just out of sight. 

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