Friction Quartet performs "Abaciscus" by Geoffrey Gordon

Kevin Rogers & Otis Harriel, violins; Lucia Kobza, viola; Doug Machiz, cello Recorded August 16, 2019, at Old First Concerts, 1751 Sacramento Street, SF, CA 94109. www.oldfirstconcerts.org ----- noun 1. (Archaic) One of the tiles or squares of a tessellated pavement; an abaculus The movement titles for the first three movements refer to mosaics found primarily in the Villa Romana del Casale and the Piazza Vittoria de Palermo in Sicily, and date from the early 4th century. The title for the fourth movement comes from the Daphni Monastery in Athens, circa 1100 AD. The sacred and profane elements, taken together, are of particular interest, and form the philosophical framework for this piece. (Musical references to the Beach Boys’ California Girls and the Viderunt Omnes of Pérotin are designed to underline this point.) Geoffrey Gordon