Acclaimed JACK Quartet Deftly Explores the Brave New/Old World of Microtonal Music in Montecito at Hahn Hall

As a premier proponent of contemporary string quartet music, the now 20-year-old JACK Quartet has inherently embraced the idea of moving ever forward with its work. In a fascinating concert at Hahn Hall last Friday, JACK essentially made forward motion by veering backwards and sideways.

In a program logically dubbed "Modern Medieval," the quartet spanned a range from 14th century music arranged by violinist Christopher Otto to 21 century pieces, and a critical third "M-word" emerged as a theme of the evening: Microtonalism. That term can trigger fear and confusion in listeners accustomed to -- and some might say brainwashed by -- the standard equal temperament tuning of a piano's 12 keys. To the uninitiated Western ear, microtonal music can seem like an off-putting fringe zone. But this seemingly "out of tune" music has been a standard of "in tune" music for centuries and across many global cultures.

That's not to mention the rare microtonal superstar, like iconoclastic American composer Harry Partch, with his 43-note octave. For true believers, variations on what is loosely identified as "microtonalism" can be revelatory, as was this sublime JACK encounter, to these ears. To others, it may seem a bit cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

For this concert, the most daring of the events in the Music Academy of the West's "Mariposa" series, opinions varied widely. In a post-concert Q&A with the musicians -- also including the since-departed founding violinist Ari Streisfeld, a Music Academy alum -- Streisfeld noted a certain acquired taste factor surrounding microtonal practices and listening. After becoming attuned to and enamored with the microtonal way, he suggested, traditional intonation music "can sound kind of flat. This music has this three-dimensional or even four-dimensional quality."

After the concert, I spoke to a listener who confessed he found the first half of the concert to be jarring and "out of tune" sounding, but that he had maybe been trained to better appreciate the second half.

In its Hahn Hall concert, the modernized Medievalism came in the form of Otto's striking and resourceful arrangements of cryptic music by 14 century French composer Rodericus -- the rhythmically complex "Angelorum Psalat," by Solage -- contributor to the Ars Nova-era Chantilly Codex -- and 16 century English composer Nathaniel Giles. These pieces reminded us of disarming commonality of early music's adventurism, from before musical rules were set, and contemporary music, which often attempts to unravel established rules.

A framework for the program came with segments from Taylor Brook's mesmerizing and time-stretching piece "Drift," between the opening Organum, the closing nod to Medieval sources, Ars Nova, and the short balm-like Phrygea in the middle.

Another memorable modern piece rooted in ancient musical practice is JACK violinist Austin Wulliman's "Dave's Hocket," which playfully blends the technique of "hocketing" -- phrases articulated through interlaced pieces by different musicians -- and what he described as a "mash-up of Arvo Pärt, Guillaume de Machaut, and Umberto Eco." Mashing up references, but with musicality in tow, was also heard in Vincente Atria's jazz-tinged "Round-about," which includes aspects of the canonical round, a quote from Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" and rugged overtone-enriched clusters suggesting a Mexican organ grinder. Disparate though it sounds, the piece sings and swings in an affecting way.

In its own expressive corner, Juri Seo's "Three Imaginary Chansons" is alternately ersatz, folky, rustic, and Modernist of its own unique devising, also within the running theme of "microtonal" fixings.

JACK, an heir to the mantle of standard-bearing contemporary music string quartet culture by the Arditti and Kronos quartets, fulfilled its promise of opening our ears and minds at Hahn Hall. In this case, the group banked on the proposition that microtonalism -- beyond its already established subculture niche -- could be a new/old frontier for exploration.

Call me cuckoo, but as this avid/professional concertgoer begins the process of making sense of the past year in live music, JACK's "Modern Medieval" concert ranks up towards the top of the 2024 list. I was taken somewhere, guided by expert hands on an ensemble mission to explore a brave new-world world. Their musical field report felt, in the end, four-dimensional.