Victoria Concert Hall
Thursday (21 September 2017 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 23 September 2017 with the title "Sublime sounds of the 1780s".
The
year 1789 held special significance to the London Haydn Quartet's concert, part
of its residency at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. All three works
performed, two string quartets by Joseph Haydn and the Clarinet Quintet
by Mozart, were composed in that year or thereabouts.
However
there were vastly opposing fortunes for the highly prolific composers. Haydn's
fame was rising after being released
from indentured duties at the Esterhazy court, while Mozart was underemployed
and in poor health. Yet rather different aspects of musical genius were
yielded, brought to life by this excellent ensemble.
The
London Haydn Quartet performs on period instruments and play from 18th
century editions of the scores, thus attempting to recreate sounds and
performing styles of the period. Modern ears will probably never know what the
composers experienced, but if it was anything close to what was heard this evening,
it would have been totally exquisite.
Playing
on gut strings, there was not going to be volume in excess, but rather a
refined and pure sound that projected very well through the large hall. Very
little vibrato was used, but the string sound was neither thin nor dessicated.
Gentle and intimate would be more apt descriptions.
In
the opening of Haydn's Quartet in D major (Op.64 No.5), first violinist
Catherine Manson's line floated and soared above the accompaniment provided by
second violinist Michael Gurevich, violist John Crockatt and cellist Jonathan
Manson. That this quartet was nicknamed “The Lark” was no surprise.
The
ensuing movements displayed a sense of nobility in the formal Adagio,
implicit humour for the Minuet and a finale of all-out virtuosity. “A story, a
song, a dance and a party”, as described by an early commentator, summed its
disparate moods and countenances, which were brilliantly realised.
A
longer work was the Quartet in E major (Op.54 No.3), with its more
introspective and moderately paced opening movement. The slow movement provided
ornamental flourishes on Manson's violin, affirming her role as leader, while
syncopations and dotted rhythms livened up the rustic Minuet. Humour
came to the fore in its mercurial finale with its stop-and-start search for the
closing cadence, a favourite compositional device of Haydn's.
The
quartet was joined by clarinettist Eric Hoeprich in Mozart's late Clarinet
Quintet in A major (K.581). Hoeprich also performed on an instrument
specific for its time – the basset clarinet – which has a wider range than the
conventional clarinet and capable of reaching lower notes. Its larger size,
bent appearance and eccentrically placed bell made it a visual oddity.
Its
sound was heavenly, possessed with mellowness and clarity which blended
beautifully with the strings. Its agility was evident in the Minuet and
closing Theme And Variations, but it was the autumnal Larghetto
slow movement where long-breathed lines transcended the sublime. So long and
appreciative was the applause after the work that the entire movement was
repeated. No encore has felt this well-deserved.
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