EPIC SOUNDSCAPES / Concordia Quartet / Review

EPIC SOUNDSCAPES

Concordia Quartet

Victoria Concert Hall

Wednesday (6 September 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 September 2023 with the title "Concordia Quartet's excellent showcase makes it an ensemble to watch".

 

Fans of chamber music have rarely had it so good in the past week, being treated to excellent performances of quartet and quintet music by locally-based professional ensembles. The Concordia Quartet’s most recent concert seemed like the logical follow up on T’ang Quartet’s programme just last week, as if both groups had colluded in advance to present a history of the string quartet genre.

 

Concordia opened with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor (Op.95), the work that continued from T’ang’s Op.74 of the previous week. Carrying the nickname Serioso, the music was another example of sturm und drang (storm and stress), which captivated listeners with seriousness, high drama and tragedy. This ensemble has been progressing in leaps and bounds, and this was in evidence throughout the evening.  

 

Listen to how cohesively the angst-filled first movement held up. The opening outburst was  emphatic rather than angry, and the show of resoluteness and tensile strength palpable. A sense of togetherness prevailed in this sink or swim situation. To illustrate how mood-switching regularly occurs in chamber music, the slow movement displayed suppleness in its fugal passages, creating with it an intimate and almost hypnotic spell.      

 

Continuing directly into the third movement, agitation and restlessness provided stark contrasts while the finale returned to the earlier urgency. And when one thought this level of tension could not be further sustained, the ensemble upped gears and raced off in cheery F major to close a very convincing performance.

 

Next came Orawa (1986) by contemporary Polish composer Wojciech Kilar (1932-2013), better known for his film scores in The Pianist (2002) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Its title refers to a mountainous region in southern Poland, a work where folk rhythms were channeled onto a minimalist path. Modern but very accessible, its insistent beat and pulsing energy built up relentlessly for about eight minutes before exploding with a collective shout.

 

Photo: Joel Chew

The evening closed with Brahms’ String Quartet No.2 in A minor (Op.51 No.2) which mirrored the “serioso” of the earlier Beethoven but with a difference. Despite his gruff and gauche demeanour, Brahms was capable of much musical warmth and largesse. The first movement opened with seriousness before a more leisurely and lilting subject ensued, the contrasting sunshine and shade being well brought out.

Photo: Joel Chew

 

After a comparative elusive slow movement, the final two movements shone with folk-inflected fervour. Over a rustic drone, a country dance-like melody emerged, later erupting into frenzied festivity. Then followed an even faster finale where the Hungarian influence, so prevalent in Brahms’ music, was celebrated. Performed with a life-affirming vigour and spirit, it made for the concert’s very satisfying conclusion.

 

With time and further experience, Concordia Quartet, formed by violinists Edward Tan and Kim Kyu Ri, violist Martin Peh and cellist Lin Juan, will get even better. Debuting unpropitiously just before the Covid pandemic struck, Concordia Quartet has what it takes to become one of the most important chamber ensembles in Singapore’s musical history.