Review Details
THE EDINBURGH QUARTET
Alan Cooper
27 November 2008
COWDRAY HALL
Another fabulous performance from the Edinburgh Quartet began with Haydn’s Quartet in b minor Op.64 no.2. Dynamic lissom playing by leader Tristan Gurney was sustained throughout the first movement encouraging the other players to respond in kind. It was cellist, Mark Bailey though who provided a firm mellifluous foundation for the whole of the second movement. The first violin joined in with its own soaring elaboration a couple of times while the other two players provided a warm, softly hummed backing. Then in the third movement the ensemble became a lively well integrated dance band and when they arrived at the repeat of the minuet their hearty playing imbued it with just the right rustic spirit. There were no humorous film cartoons in Haydn’s day but if there had been he would surely have been the composer of choice. In the finale the first violin led the others on a lively fun filled chase while at the very end Haydn gives the leader nothing more than a merry little tweet to complete the quartet: the composer’s trademark surprise.
In the Quartet no.3 “Quartetto Lyrico” by Matyas Seiber, the musical language is starkly modern but the composer handles it as if it were the most warmly romantic material. This sense of bleak versus warm, modern versus romantic animated the whole opening movement and was splendidly translated in the playing of the Edinburgh Quartet, so different from Haydn. The second movement took us on a journey through an astonishing landscape of restless ever-changing instrumental colours and then in the finale, the almost skeletal gothic background that Seiber creates was suddenly resolved in an amazingly soft romantic chord; another surprise ending.
Mendelssohn’s Quartet in a minor Op.13 began with a gentle song theme but it was not long before the music went scurrying off at full tilt. The Edinburgh Quartet gave Mendelssohn the benefit of their finest ensemble playing here. Michael Beeston’s viola led off the fugue at the core of the Adagio. Here the spirit of the Bach-inspired Mendelssohn took over. The third movement, one of the all-time gems of string quartet literature had Tristan Gurney’s delightful melody supported by a light but vibrant pizzicato from the other players. Then, as a magical detail, the viola changed to a bowed accompaniment and back again. A rapid section intervened before the addictive music from the opening of the movement received a welcome reprise. Without a pause, the stormy opening of the finale was upon us then the players went chasing along in splendid Mendelssohnian fashion. The quartet ended with a return to the songlike element of its opening before dying softly away in, yes, the third surprise ending of the evening.