Concert Program

Faculty Recital Series

Avalon String Quartet

Blaise Magnière, violin
Richard O. Ryan Endowed Chair in Violin

Marie Wang, violin

Anthony Devroye, viola

Cheng-Hou Lee, cello

Tuesday, April 28, 2026
7 p.m.
NIU Recital Hall

Program

Notes

Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor, D.703 “Quartettsatz” (Quartet Movement, 1820)

Schubert’s Quartettsatz initiated what historians describe as his “late” period of quartet writing; however strange it may seem to speak of the “late style” of a composer who died at 31, Schubert’s music of the 1820s (like Beethoven’s) differed markedly from his previous works. Features of the late style include basing the exposition on three distinct key areas instead of two; song-like melodies for the secondary and closing themes; sudden alternations between major and minor modes; and a liberal use of expressive harmonies like the Neapolitan, a chord built on the lowered second degree of the scale.  Quartet No. 12 consists only of a first movement: for reasons that are not known, Schubert abandoned the piece 41 measures into the second movement (as he was to do with the third movement of the “Unfinished” Symphony of 1822.)

Schubert opens the Quartettsatz with a nervous melody in the tonic built out of fast repeating sixteenth-notes that build in contrary motion to a forceful Neapolitan chord, followed by the plunge of almost three octaves in the first violin.  The hyperactive motion resumes, now as dance-like triplets in an undulating motion.  The triplets continue as the accompaniment to the secondary theme, a lyrical melody for first violin in A-flat Major (with a countertheme in the cello).  Without warning, Schubert shifts to A-flat Minor and the jerky rhythm of the opening theme returns, with sweeping upward flourishes in the violin.  A tentative peace ensues with three closing melodies in the dominant key of G Major; dominated by the undulating triplets, this section stands out for its striking and beautifully melancholy inflections of the Neapolitan chord.  The exposition ends serenely, though somewhat wistfully. The development is dominated by the triplet motion, migrating into different keys.  Schubert slides into the recapitulation through the secondary theme, in B-flat Major.  The tonic appears with the closing themes.  It seems like the quartet will end peacefully, but suddenly the primary theme, absent until now, breaks in with its original key of C Minor, and the movement comes to an abrupt and dramatic close.

Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D. 887 (1826)

Schubert wrote his final string quartet in ten days in June 1826 but it received its first public performance only in 1850. Compared to Beethoven’s late quartets (written at the same time), Schubert’s work unfolds at a leisurely rate but bristles with emotional turmoil in its propulsive rhythms, abrupt harmonic shifts, quasi-orchestral chords, agitated tremolos, explosive changes of mood, and, most importantly, the dramatic conflict of major and minor modes.  Both in its expressive power and demands made on the performers, Schubert’s G-Major Quartet represents one of the peaks of the literature.

Schubert establishes the fraught mood immediately as the opening major triad abruptly turns minor, followed by splinters of motives. The transition bounces chords back and forth on offbeats.  The gentle but hesitant secondary theme is stated four increasingly varied times, twice separated by a troubled interlude. The development works over the restive motives and chords of the primary and transitional areas.  The recapitulation reverses the opening sonority from minor to major, but the bouncing chords of the transition dispel any sense of resolution. The secondary area continues to vary the theme. The coda ends with quick alternations of the opening chord in minor and major versions, with the last word given to the latter.

The slow movement begins on a unison note followed by a wistful turn.  The cello plays a deeply poignant melody in E Minor, capped by the turn figure. The music erupts in a violent outburst of diminished chords, desperate upward sweeps in the violin, restless tremolos, and an obsessive minor third surrounded by remote harmonies. The opening melody returns over throbbing notes in the accompaniment and even more aching chords. The outburst resumes, rhythmically intensified. The last and most intense statement of the principal theme shuffles between modes. The Coda closes the movement in a calm E Major, though it sounds more like a ceasefire than a resolution.

Schubert builds the assertive Scherzo through fast eighth-note motion with dynamic and harmonic shifts.  The trio becomes an easy-going folk dance, but the soft dynamics and offbeat accents make it sound hesitant.  Schubert unleashes the emotional floodgates in the tarantella finale. A relentless torrent of triplet and broken-triplet rhythms traverses a dizzying array of key and dynamic changes. Opening with a descending minor arpeggio and ascending major scale, the primary theme symbolizes the modal conflict. The jaunty secondary theme is more stable.  Several times a sustained motive—the only break in the triplet motion—seems to plead vainly for release from the ceaseless activity.  The whirlwind is finally broken by two concluding G-Major chords.

– Brian Hart, Professor of Music History, Northern Illinois University

Biographies

Described by the Chicago Tribune as “an ensemble that invites you — ears, mind, and spirit — into its music,” the Avalon String Quartet has established itself as one of the country’s leading chamber music ensembles. The Avalon has performed in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St Y, Merkin Hall, and Bargemusic in New York; the Library of Congress and National Gallery of Art in Washington DC; Wigmore Hall in London; and Herculessaal in Munich. Other performances include appearances at the Bath International Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Caramoor, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, NPR’s St. Paul Sunday, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Dame Myra Hess Concerts, Los Angeles Music Guild, and the Ravinia Festival. In previous seasons the quartet performed an annual concert series in Ganz Hall, Chicago, and at historic Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it has presented the complete quartet cycles of Beethoven, Bartok, and Brahms.

The Avalon is quartet-in-residence at the Northern Illinois University School of Music, a position formerly held by the Vermeer Quartet. Additional teaching activities have included the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Institute, Interlochen Advanced Quartet Program, Madeline Island Music Camp, and the Britten-Pears School in England, as well as masterclasses at universities and conservatories throughout the United States. Additionally, they have given numerous performances and presentations to young audiences in under-resourced schools and communities.

In 2021 the quartet recorded two string quartets of Leo Sowerby for Cedille Records on an album titled “Leo Sowerby: the Paul Whiteman Commissions and Other Early Works”. In 2018 they released a recording of the complete quartets of Matthew Quayle for Naxos, and recorded “Aqua” by Harold Meltzer for Bridge Records, a recording which received a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Compendium. They previously released other critically- acclaimed recordings for Cedille Records and Albany Records. The Avalon String Quartet’s debut CD, Dawn to Dusk, featuring quartets by Ravel and Janacek, was honored with the 2002 Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award for best chamber music recording.

The quartet’s live performances and conversations are frequently featured on Chicago fine arts radio station WFMT. They have also been heard on New York’s WQXR and WNYC, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, Canada’s CBC, Australia’s ABC, the ARD of Germany, and France Musique.

The Avalon captured the top prize at the ARD Competition in Munich (2000) and First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City (1999). In its early years, the ensemble trained intensively with the Juilliard Quartet at The Juilliard School, the Emerson Quartet at the Hartt School of Music, and the Vermeer Quartet at Northern Illinois University.