February 24-March 2, 2005

musicpicks

Prism Quartet

classical

Despite all the talk about world music influences, intermingling of pop and classical, and all other manners of stylistic crossovers, there still exists distinctive nationalistic cultures of music-making. In French music, the most significant movement in the last century was impressionism, as formulated by Debussy and Ravel. The enormous influence of this music even extends into the work of modernists such as Messiaen and Boulez, and well into our time. The latest incarnation of this linear heritage is known as spectral music, which, familiarly, emphasizes color, lyricism and sensuality. This weekend, the Prism Quartet will present a full program of spectral music they are calling "Le Saxophone Spectral, New Music from Paris." Five works in a variety of voices will be heard, including a quartet from one of the granpapas of the movement, the late Gérard Grisey, and concluding with an homage to Grisey by his onetime student Fabien Lévy, in an American premiere performance.

Sat., Feb. 26, 8 p.m., $10-$20, Trinity Center for Urban Life, 22nd and Spruce sts., 215-569-9700, www.prismquartet.com.

—Peter Burwasser