This past Friday, Feb 28. San Diego State’s  School of Music and Dance filled the Smith Recital Hall with beautiful chamber music from the Hausmann Quartet and the unique sounds of Balinese Gamelan. The concert series “Converge,” explores chamber music from around the world to engage the audiences in different forms of art. This performance of, “Beyond the Sea” part of the “Converge” concert series, incorporated the Balinese Gamelan, a traditional Indonesian ensemble and quartet pieces from French and Japanese composers.

The Hausmann Quartet, SDSU’s Artists in Residence, opened up the evening with its first public performance together since their new additions on violin and cello. The 1980 composition by Toru Takemitsu, “A Way a Lone,” unveiled the eerie yet erratic mood for the evening which followed with a composition by Claude Debussy, “A String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10.” The quartet’s interpretation of Debussy’s composition resembled a “Sweeney-Todd”-like mood, with perfectly synchronous crescendos, and powerful quick paced slurs laced with a comfortably ominous tone.

Concert guests Alexander Kahlil and Putu Hiranmayena introduced a more experimental form of chamber music through a Balinese Gamelan ensemble of two people. They interpreted the music to a Balinese peacock dance full of sudden changes in tempo and dynamics. Their small arrangement of music unified the resonance of the evening’s allusion to our own human experience.

Little credit is given to our SDSU Artists in Residence who not only perform beautiful forms of music, but also mentor and nurture the skills of many SDSU students as professors. All in all, the “Converge” concert series shows the diverse forms of music which are being introduced to SDSU. The next concert hosted by the Hausmann Quartet will take place April 8 at the Smith Recital Hall with all-new comedic guests and pieces from the quartet.

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Photo courtesy of John Petreikis