The Miró Quartet Featuring David Shifrin
Tulsa PAC
October 20, 2024
Speak aloud the words “Classical quartet with a clarinetist on a Sunday afternoon” to me, and I might assume that I’d feel sleepy rather than energized by the end of such an experience. Well, count me wrong, as usual. The Austin-based Miró Quartet, along with clarinetist David Shifrin, delivered a show that was by turns technically thrilling, culturally edifying, emotionally satisfying, and—wouldn’t you know it—swinging.
Opening with Beethoven’s cool, restrained String Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2, the Miró Quartet immediately affirmed their status as one of the most lauded string quartets in the country. The Grammy-nominated musicians poured themselves into the Beethoven with a mix of precision and enthusiasm that can only come from having played together for nearly thirty years. Even the lone baby in an audience of mostly 50s-and-up attendees cooed along with the music, offering a not-unpleasing counterpoint.
Shifrin, one of the most accomplished clarinet players alive, joined the Quartet next for Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581, a subtle and flowing piece in which the bracing tones of the clarinet’s reed perfectly match the quivering of the strings. This quintet was one of the first classical pieces ever publicly performed by the “King of Swing,” Benny Goodman, to whom the Sunday afternoon show was dedicated. Best known as a swinging jazz artist, Goodman shocked his audience with the quiet, moving tones of the Mozart quintet.
Artists can surprise you: Goodman sure did, and so did the Miró Quartet. The shift into a series of literal Benny Goodman tribute pieces in the second half of this concert felt like a long exhale after a polite holding of breath. “Rendezvous with Benny,” a tribute to that swing titan composed by Alan Shulman, begins with a dissonant wandering through postmodernism before breaking into the old style of modern big band tunes that made Goodman so popular. It was a potent back-and-forth of styles that brought home the clarinet’s power to convey emotion, the expansive talent of Goodman within a century that seemed certain to out-theorize him, and the pure, straight-to-the-dome enjoyment of a catchy swing melody.
“A Smooth One,” “Who Am I to Know,” and “Temptation Rag”—all vintage popular songs arranged by composer David Schiff—brought the audience to a head-shaking, foot-stomping good time and provided a counterweight to the heaviness of the Beethoven and Mozart pieces. An electrifying encore of “Sing, Sing, Sing”—the first jazz song I can remember feeling moved by as a young drummer, listening to the famous recording by Gene Krupa—brought the audience to its feet and sent us out into the afternoon humming.
Nothing bad to say about this performance. Both the Miró Quartet and David Shifrin proved themselves at home in both the classical and jazz oeuvres, and able to be expressive, excited, and technical all at once in both realms. I’ve been craving more clarinet ever since.
