Harmonious Hodgepodge Get up-to-date on the weekend's musical offerings

Author: Andrew Throdahl and Melissa Marshall

Audio content produced by Radio Arts Middlebury

Emerson String Quartet

When looking for a recording of any major string quartet, chances are you will come across one, if not more, recordings performed by the Emerson String Quartet, one of today's leading string quartets and winner of seven Grammy's. Their recordings are so ubiquitous that the audience at its Nov. 2 concert was a bit star struck when the group appeared on stage in Mead Chapel. The violinists and violist made an unusual but apparently expected decision to stand rather than sit through the concert. This left the cellist awkwardly seated, although this might have been acoustically justified.

There is a distinct solidity to the Emerson Quartet's playing that gives them an interpretive reliability. This weight may have become a slight disadvantage during the second Haydn string quartet, in which the group seemed to forget the piece's wit, despite their technically accuracy.

They recovered quite spectacularly, however, in the subsequent works by Shostakovich and Beethoven. The group lacks the casualness of say, the Takacs Quartet - this comes off as appropriate in the quartets of Shostakovich. The Shostakovich String Quartet no. 4's starkness exposed the group's exceptional communication skills. They seemed instinctively attuned to the mechanics of the compositions - they cued each other with well-behaved glances rather than with the disruptive tendency of some quartets to motion one's entire body and instrument in the general direction of another performer.

After over 30 years of performing at Middlebury, it seems likely that the quartet will return again. All 36 of the Emerson String Quartet's recordings for Deutsche Gramophone can be found on the iTunes Music Store, including complete Beethoven and Shostakovich cycles.

Layaali Arabic Music Ensemble

With rhythms better suited for tapestry covered walls and smoldering candle ambience, the Layaali Arabic Music Ensemble transformed McCullough Social Space into a Middle-Eastern mirage Friday night - or at least close to it. The Massachusetts-based group brought their flavor from a far land to the Green Mountain State, giving a spirited performance to a small, albeit enthusiastic audience who sat transfixed beneath the haunting notes of the oud, qanun, daff and nay. As explained by Palestinian-born percussionist Michel Moushabeck, Arabic music owes its captivating composition to the use of ancient modes called maqams which incorporates successive eighth notes in comparison to the Western tradition of relying heavily on quarter notes. This distinctive sound certainly charmed the crowd - heads swayed subtly, shoulders undulated and feet tapped seemingly independently from the seated listeners.

Unfortunately, the floor was not opened to dancing, ignoring the potential of a performance space that was conducive to audience participation, but detrimental to the intimacy and sultriness of some of the ensemble's instrumental pieces. The more contemporary numbers, including works by famed composer Ziad Rahbani, especially seemed suited to freestyle whirling-Lebanese vocalist Geena Ghandour's burning voice seemed crafted to induce hypnotized hips.

Still, with a program that featured a range of music from the great classical compositions of 19th and early 20th century masters as well as contemporary works and popular folk songs, Layaali certainly fulfilled their mission statement of "performing the traditional music of the Arab world and preserving the rich legacy of Arabic culture through soulful vocals, hypnotic instrumental improivations and electirfying percussion." And while the overall atmosphere may have been a bit stiff, the music itself weaved a life of its own that told of an antique land set to a modern meter.

Yaya: African Caribbean Sounds

No, Yaya is not a nonsensical term. It's not a new slang for a woman's assests, an underground rap group or a recently invented torso-contortation. But, it does have ties to these absurdities of modern culture. Yaya - a word that has its origin in the Creole/Kongo tradition≠ - translates into "mothers." And in a powerful performance Saturday evening in the McCullough Social Space, the all-female Afro-Caribbean percussion group celebrated femininity, manipulated primal beats and created rhythms whispering of the freedom of movement that was a far cry from the sentimentality of "The Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood." With beats as rich as their cultural influences, the group constructed musical representations of the Puerto Rican bomba and Dominican salve traditions, with a focus on womanhood throughout.

Yaya's performance was part of an entire evening of music sponsored by Wonnacott Commons' annual "Global Rhythms" - a showcase of international flavor and campus talent. And while the event was sparsely attended, strong sets from Irish Anonymous and The Dead Jettsons spoke to the universality of music - a sentiment embodied by the Commons' event and Yaya's distinctly Hispanic yet earthy and vaguely primeval sound. The Middlebury art scene seems to be paying particular attention to African and Caribbean influences. Both the Alpha yaya Diallo concert and the current African Art exhibit on display at the Middlebury College Museum of Art stretch the bubble outside the European tradition.

The concert was followed by an African-Caribbean inspired dance party that considerably lacked the passion and enthusiasm of the female collective's diverse, percussion-driven beats. Still, the few and the proud dancing freely in the Social Space spoke as a testament to the ability of music and movement to transcend boundaries of both gender and culture.