United Kingdom Haydn, F. Mendelssohn and Schubert: Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes [violins], Richard O’Neill [viola], and András Fejér [cello]. Wigmore Hall, London, 15.5.2023. (CSa)
Haydn – String Quartet in F, Op.77 No.2
Fanny Mendelssohn – String Quartet in E-flat main
Schubert – String Quartet in G main, D887
Schubert’s chamber works have been clearly influenced by Joseph Haydn, and though the 2 males have been contemporaries and compatriots, they by no means met and have been, in each sense, worlds aside. ‘Papa’ Haydn, also called the Father of the String Quartet, was the originator of the shape. He was a superb and vastly profitable court docket musician comfortably housed and employed by rich aristocrats. He had composed over 75 quartets by the point he died on the ripe age of 77. On the opposite hand, Schubert, though prodigiously productive, was financially insecure, and had written simply fifteen string quartets, together with an uncompleted twelfth, earlier than dying in poverty and obscurity. He was on the time of his loss of life simply 31 years previous. Haydn was a harbinger of the Classical type. His chamber works are distinguished by their formal magnificence, obvious simplicity of type, mild humour and freshness. Psychological tensions inside the music are cheerfully and decisively settled. Schubert, an early exponent of Romanticism, occupies a really totally different soundworld, one incessantly characterised by turbulence, uncertainty and disappointment. ‘Schubert asks questions but rarely provides answers’ and divulges ‘a yearning towards acceptance rather than resolution’, the pianist Paul Lewis just lately noticed.
Haydn’s dramatic, delicate and witty String Quartet in F main Op.77, No.2 (amongst his final), and Schubert’s darkly mysterious last String Quartet in G main, D887, which dominated this recital, occupy disparate musical landscapes and require distinctly totally different interpretive and technical expertise. The determination, then, to pair these contrasting works collectively in the identical programme made excellent sense, and bookending Fanny Mendelssohn’s enchanting E-flat String Quartet, took us on a different and richly rewarding musical journey, whereas showcasing the Takács’s delicate musicianship, nice versatility and very good ensemble enjoying.
The live performance started with a crystalline account of the Haydn quartet. Its melodious opening, an Allegro moderato, was strikingly contemporary and was adopted by a jocund Minuet, extra a tough and uneven nation dance which might have set the ft tapping, had one failed to look at Wigmore Hall etiquette. After a refined and hymn-like Andante – ardently expressed and fantastically performed – got here an exuberant Finale through which, after a gradual introduction, one other joyous dance erupted.
Next got here Fanny Mendelssohn’s solely quartet, written in 1834 when she was 29 years previous, and a seamless transition by the quartet from the classical formalities of the eighteenth century, to heart-on-sleeve expressiveness of mid-nineteenth century romanticism. The quartet in E-flat is, for need of a extra gender correct phrase, a masterpiece which, though woefully under-performed, is equal in stature to any chamber work written by Fanny’s youthful brother Felix. The Takács Quartet mixed to discover a wealthy, mellow voice with which to specific the yearnings of the primary motion Adagio and adopted it up with a gossamer-light account of the intricate fast-moving Allegretto. After a deeply touching Romanze, brimming with pathos, got here an intricate quicksilver Finale, executed with breath-taking accuracy.
Schubert’s haunting Quartet in G main, D 887, occupied the second half. Almost symphonic in scale and operating for roughly 50 minutes, it was accomplished in 10 days in 1826. Some commentators have likened its architectural grandeur to a Bruckner symphony. The first motion, an Allegro of epic proportions, has aptly been described by the musicologist Kai Christiansen as the start of ‘a mercurial and fundamental battle between dark and light which rages on to the very end’. The Takács’s shuddering tremolos and consoling triplets vividly conjured up an environment of suspense. The drama continued to unfold in an Andante – scarily paying homage to a Hitchcock movie noir – through which quivering violins and viola alternated with a plaintive notice of uncertainty launched by the cello. The terrors of the second motion have been shortly banished by the Scherzo – a carefully detailed musical fretwork, performed very quick and with astonishing agility, whereas the ultimate Allegro, a feverish, dance flecked with components of darkish humour, was delivered with dazzling rhythmic drive.
‘It’s not simple to know what we should always play subsequent’ declared first violinist Edward Dusinberre, earlier than rewarding the enraptured viewers with an encore: a shimmering rendition of the second motion of Ravel’s sensuous String Quartet in F main.
Chris Sallon