Momenta Quartet provides a refreshing look at chamber music that not only cherishes the old-world splendor of classical composers, but also champions the new and innovative work of up-and-coming composers. These four incredible individuals have worked hand-in-hand with these composers, commissioning pieces and performing their work in world premiers. Now this may be ignorant, but I had no ideas that such partnerships even existed between musicians and composers. Although maybe that’s because most of the music I’ve played is by men who have long since passed… Either way, seeing this partnership was actually quite inspiring and opened my eyes to a whole other dimension of music.

I’ll preface this next section by saying that, while I’d like to believe I’m a musician, I realistically know a few good songs and the difference between major and minor. Music theory has never really been my thing. I was very excited, however, when the group touched upon something that I had been wondering for years: what about the notes in-between notes? As it turns they have a name – a name which I cannot currently recall, but now thats just as much your problem as mine (you’re welcome 🙂 ). That aside, these unicorns of music aren’t just theories, but real functioning musical devices. In fact, Momenta played a piece for us that used these intermediate tones extensively. I will admit that it wasn’t the most pleasant of sounds – the performance was prefaced with a statement about how the instruments may sound out of tune – but I can still appreciate the thought behind its composition. Being able to compose something resembling a song using tones so inherently dissonant is quite the feat, and I thing that goes for the musicians as well in their ability to play said pieces.

All in all, I was thoroughly impressed by the Momenta Quartet, and I was actually very disappointed I couldn’t attend their actual concert. Bravo.