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First Unitarian Church
June 24, 2007
There are times when I am convinced that Haydn is my favourite composer. These occasions usually occur while I am listening to (a good performance of) one of his string quartets; this is music which is civilised, intelligent, witty, charming, melodic and superbly constructed. Later composers may have extended the emotional and intellectual range of the medium, but can we really say they wrote greater quartets than Haydn? I think not.
It is a compliment to Sunday afternoon's quartet of Nancy DiNovo, Kate Rhodes, Kenji Fusé and Laura Backstrom that these thoughts struck me while listening to their performance of Haydn's quartet, Op.33 No.3 - nicknamed "The Bird" - specifically during the slow movement.
This was classy Haydn playing - and regular readers will know that I have high requirements of those who venture into these deceptively tranquil, shark-infested waters. Although tempos were on the steady side of what is fashionable in this day and age, there was never any lack of spirit or energy in the quicker music; the four players were well-balanced and produced a nicely blended sound and there was more careful attention to dynamics than one sometimes hears.
After an almost urbane first movement, the sotto voce second opened with some slightly dubious intonation, but soon picked up and featured a delectable trio for violins alone. The slow movement was simply lovely and the spirited finale ended the quartet with a smile.
Even when not listening to it, I am convinced that Ravel's only string quartet is quite my favourite work in the medium. Its ravishing textures (hard to believe that Ravel was a pianist rather than a string player) and gorgeous themes have beguiled me since I first heard the work more than four decades ago.
Furthermore, the quartet has always seemed to me to be a work of high summer, an almost languid energy infuses the music, summoning forth images of warm afternoons in Provence or Tuscany.
My expectations of Sunday's performance were, therefore, fairly high: I can think of no more appropriate venue in which to listen to the music. Nor was I disappointed.
Whether it was the first movement's conjuring up dappled sunlight on leaves, the pointillist second movement, the sonorous third or the weighty, yet energetic finale it was a performance in which one could submerge oneself, like a warm bath.
Which probably explains the relative paucity of notes in my notebook - I was simply enjoying the music too much.
No doubt the opening music, Kodaly's Intermezzo for String Trio, was the least familiar. No matter, for this gently lilting piece was given a charming reading by Rhodes, Fusé and Backstrom.
An early work, it was clearly influenced by Brahms - albeit with a little added paprika.
I don't know just how "last minute" a replacement Kate Rhodes was for the unavailable Christopher Taber and nothing in the afternoon's performances gave me any clue; the four played with a fine rapport and balance.
An excellent close to a season of which I only wish I could have heard more.
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