Texas Classical Review

The Dover Quartet and clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois gave the North Texas premiere of Pierre Jalbert’s Equilibrium on Saturday at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, an event presented by  the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth. The program also included Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and the String Quartet No. 4 of Grażyna Bacewicz. 

Throughout the program—part of CMSFW’s “Subtle Connections Across the World” series—the Dover members maintained an ideal balance and tone quality. Joel Link and Bryan Lee both imbued their violins with a clear singing tone that Hezekiah Leung matched with his viola, while Camden Shaw’s cello was consistently rich and full.  

The Dover Quartet began with Bacewicz’s Quartet No. 4, which achieves an orchestral scope with its closely-spaced writing and abundant double stops.  Over the course of the first movement, the individual lines of the players blended seamlessly into the overall texture, although a brief passage from the second theme saw the players split into more distinct roles. The second movement exuded an air of mystery as the players collectively sounded a series of declamatory phrases that were interrupted by an interlude centered on a short fugato.

The finale broke with the introspective mood of the first two movements by exhibiting a sprightly dance character.  Together, the group commenced the scampering introduction, after which Link and Lee took up the movement’s principal tune and passed it on to Shaw and Leung.  Following a lively interlude, Link and Lee resumed the dance tune, but with an altered meter that encouraged the players to give it a more lyrical character before ending the movement with a flourish.  

Next, Romie de Guise-Langlois joined the group for Jalbert’s Equilibrium, a co-commission by the CMSFW, the title of which the composer described as expressing a need for balance, particularly in view of current social and ecological conditions.  To convey this idea musically, Jalbert sought to explore the timbral and dynamic contrasts between the string quartet ensemble and the clarinet.

The first movement, “Still/Animate,” echoed its title with alternating passages of comparative stasis and more frenzied activity.  Right from the start, de Guise-Langlois demonstrated the clarinet’s dynamic versatility that inspired Jalbert, her instrument emerging from a quiet tone cluster by the strings and rapidly reaching an overpowering loudness. The tone clusters quickly shifted to successive ostinato accompaniments, the most distinctive of which featured Link and Lee providing a “clockwork” of alternating notes underscoring further melodies from de Guise-Langlois.

“Chant,” was inspired by Gregorian chant melodies and their allusions to underlying spirituality.  The second movement, began with strings sustaining open fifths and having a glassy timbre, while de Guise-Langlois’s clarinet gradually emerged from and subsided into these sonorities as in the first movement.  A sudden burst of activity from the strings led to a dramatic interlude in which de Guise-Langlois and Leung prominently sounded an extended unison melody over an agitated accompaniment from the remaining players, followed by a return to the more static and glassy sound of the opening.

Lee began the finale, “Tipping Point,” with a series of melodic fragments that were quickly taken up by Link, Leung and Shaw and rapidly coalesced into a set of jagged ostinatos among the strings with de Guise-Langlois’s clarinet darting among these in a manner suggesting a voice that is trying but unable to join in a conversation.  As the movement proceeded, the ostinatos gradually fragmented, producing increased dissonance leading to the finale’s abrupt end.

De Guise-Langlois’s resonant clarinet deftly complemented the string players, blending into the texture as a member of the ensemble or as easily taking the lead as a contrasting soloist.  Further, while all the players were visibly enthusiastic, de Guise-Langlois’s delight in performing was especially palpable through her congenial energy and active eye contact with her colleagues.

In the wake of Bacewicz’s introspection and the seriousness of Jalbert’, the group’s flawlessly executed rendition of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet was infused by a distinct light-hearted spirit.  Taking brisk tempos, entrances were a bit more energetic, and repeated phrases often subtly quieter; such nuances of execution abounded from all the players in the performance, made more evident in the visible enjoyment that the players showed in playing.

The Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth’s next concert takes place April  18, 2026. The program features the Atrium String Quartet performing Mozart’s String Quartet in D Minor, Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 7, and Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 2. cmsfw.org