A string quartet moved more than just their bows Tuesday night. They performed moving pieces that left the audience enriched. 

The Avalon String Quartet played at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Recital Hall of the Music Building. The quartet included musicians who are all NIU faculty, including Blaise Magnière and Marie Wang on the violin, Anthony Devroye on the viola and Cheng-Hou Lee on the cello.

The quartet played a total of eight songs, and the audience diligently listened during each one. 

The first four songs had a combination of energies. They would start smooth and steady then lead into something more powerful and intense.

Magnière gave a backstory to the fifth song titled “Pisachi.” It was written by a Native American composer named Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. 

The piece was written with images of Southwest landscapes in mind. The audience was encouraged to imagine this scenery during the performance. The piece had strong and gritty moments, but it was also peaceful and soft. 

“The playing was exciting and filled with strong and complex emotions,” said Deborah Haliczer, a DeKalb resident. 

After an intermission, there was emphasis put on the sixth song, “Allegro sostenuto,” which is a folk song by Sergei Prokofiev. Devroye said the song was written when Prokofiev was in exile in the Caucasus in 1941.

There were three components to “Allegro sostenuto.” The first portion was fun and lively while the second was dark and soulful. The third portion of the song was deeper with a prominent cello performance. 

“It was a very dense piece, very interesting and very, very profound,” said Stephen Haliczer, a DeKalb resident. 

The rest of the songs had more of a somber beginning with nodes of cheeriness through the plucking of the instruments. 

The Avalon String Quartet played in perfect unison and were given a standing ovation from the audience.  

For those who missed the concert, it is available to stream online. The next concert will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Recital Hall of the Music Building.