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Bruce Hodges hears the concert from the Bowdoin International Music Festival, which took place at the Studzinski Recital Hall on 1 July 2026 and featured works by Schubert, Elizabeth Ogonek and Bartók arr. Logan Skelton
As a graceful introduction for the second concert at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Schubert’s final String Trio D581 demonstrated the relaxed expertise of violinist Renée Jolles, violist Melissa Reardon and cellist David Ying. The work seemed ideal for summertime: no angst, no biting drama – just the composer at his most genial.
Elizabeth Ogonek (born 1989) wrote her first string quartet in 2013. Running at Still Life was inspired by an epic road trip from Los Angeles to New York, where she marvelled at the constantly changing landscape. Its brief span encompasses a wide slate of timbres: buzzing tuttis, soulful glissandos, wiry trills, often separated by silence – as if the composer had stopped her car to admire a particularly arresting view. The Dōnum Quartet, originally from Seoul and soon to be the graduate quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School, adroitly delivered the rugged beauty of Ogonek’s love letter to the US.
To conclude the evening came the world premiere of Logan Skelton’s arrangement of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, for two pianos (plus two snare drums in the second movement). Though many listeners will naturally prefer the peacock-like sonorities of the original version, pianists Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee made an ear-opening case for Skelton’s savvy reduction.
BRUCE HODGES
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