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Alix Goolden Performance Hall
January 24, 2010
Hurricane Borealis hit Victoria, British Columbia hard January 24th, 2010. The Vancouver-based string quartet delivered on its premise as being an intense, exciting whirlwind of virtuosic musicality, putting a unique spin on a substantive program of appropriately passionate, romantic music.
The first piece performed, a string quartet by 20th century Canadian composer Imant Raminsh, introduced me to the group's powerful style. As I'm trying to make plain with this review, no one fell asleep during this concert; Although dynamic intensity swelled and dipped dramatically, one would be hard-pressed to have spotted a lull that stalled the insistent drive of every piece.
Pushing the action along were first violinist Patricia Shih, cellist Shih-Lin Chen, violist Nikita Pogrebnoy, and second violinist Yuel Yawney. Patricia's stage presence acted as a sort of centrepiece for the ensemble's character, and her particularly aggressive playing made for a point of debate after the show. Everyone I found extolled the first violinist's ability to all but punch a hole through her instrument and still bring out such a clear, brilliant tone, but a few audience members also found her bravura distracting and unnecessary. Yuel's accompaniment, while more contained, was similarly insisting.
Cellist Shih-Lin Chen's playing was, on the other hand, not debated at all. The flexibility, ease, sensibility, and virtuosity of his masterful performance was obviously key to why the Quartet felt so anchored and confident. The quartet's weakest link was violist and husband of Patricia, Nikita Pogrebnoy, whose generally muffled sound was all too often slightly out of tune.
After the Ramnish, which featured an exceptionally superb and organic Elegy, came the Quartettsatz in C minor by Franz Schubert. The Quartet's skills set are so ideally suited to this kind of music that everything fell exactly in the right place. The kinetic intensity and romantic panache was more than just satisfying; it was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately for Raminsh and Schubert, the Quartet in E minor No.2 by Beethoven reduced their pieces to mere introductions. The second of the three "Rasumovsky" quartets, this massive composition was easily the highlight of the concert. Every movement, from the imperious allegro to the rambunctious finale, was written with such lyrical tunefulness to keep it lodged it my brain for weeks.
The ensemble in large part succeeded in lending the Beethoven a very harmonious, heartfelt character. I was particularly struck by the nuance and sophistication of Chen's cello playing. Only the thrash-and-bash character of Patricia's interpretation detracted from my enjoyment of the piece, a problem which was hardly a distraction for a large majority of this obviously challenging piece.
On the Borealis String Quartet's website, the players advertise themselves as the energy-charged musicians who have the ability to make sound move faster than light. And certainly, that's not for everyone. But for those in the audience who were perhaps less picky, and for all those who also happened to be fans of superb cello playing, the 24th's performance was a resonate success.
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