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McPherson Playhouse
January 28, 2011
"Better not listen to it [Debussy's music]; you risk getting used to it, and then you would end by liking it."
It is of mild speculative interest to wonder how Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov would feel today; almost a century after Debussy's death he is not only considered one of the great composers, but also one of the great originals.
Not only that, much of his music is actually popular. Clearly, far too many people are either unaware of Rimsky's advice, or have chosen blithely to ignore it.
It was with Debussy's only essay in the medium of the string quartet that the Emily Carr Quartet closed their excellent recital on Friday night, the opening salvo in a brand-new concert initiative, Sisyphus Concerts.
Each time I hear the Emily Carrs they sound better than ever and Friday was no exception. The opening movement, taken at a finely-judged tempo, swept the listener along - and what wonderful control of dynamics in the tremolo passage in the coda!
The second movement began with Mieka Michaux's delightfully insouciant viola accompanied by superb pizzicatos from her colleagues; its close was a model of precision.
The slow movement's languor was more than sufficient to take one's mind off a cold, wet January night; and the energetic finale was notable for its marvellously hushed introduction with a particularly eloquent cello passage from Alasdair Money.
Arvo Pärt's Fratres is evidently a favourite of the composer: why else would he have made any number of arrangements for differing instrumental combinations? It is also one of the works which established his name, as the first of the "Holy Minimalists" (John Taverner and Henryk Gorecki came along a little later).
The work is in the form of a large, slow-moving arc, with a constant drone from the second violin (a heroic undertaking, manfully handled by Cory Balzer) while the first violin, viola and cello play mostly quiet diatonic phrases, often utilising harmonics.
I confess that Pärt's brand of minimalism is not especially to my taste, but this was as concentrated and dedicated a performance as one could wish for.
The year 1948 was a notable one in the Soviet Union: at a music conference in Moscow, conference chairman Andrey Zhdanov - Stalin's "cultural henchman" - delivered a devastating attack on "modernism" in music, with particular reference to Shostakovich and Prokofiev; in that same year the "Struggle against Cosmopolitanism" - in reality a vicious anti-semitic campaign - was launched.
Little wonder, then, that Shostakovich decided to delay the premiere of his fourth string quartet - which makes considerable use of Jewish motifs - until Stalin and his feared secret policeman, Lavrenti Beria, were safely six feet under.
Composed in 1949, premiered in 1953, the Fourth Quartet is an outstanding creation and Friday's was an outstanding performance.
The opening movement gradually built in intensity to a mesmerising anguish, the slow movement was highly concentrated, the third had a sinister spring in its step and the finale, a terrifying "dance of death", absolutely rivetting.
Throughout the evening, the quartet dazzled and beguiled, their playing showing a wonderful unanimity and a wide range of always-appropriate tone colours. In just under five years, they have matured into an ensemble of considerable stature.
Sisyphus Concert Promotions is a new venture, intent on bringing "exciting, and progressive music to the ear of Vancouver Island listeners". If all their concerts are of the same quality as this, they should have little difficulty staying the course.
I had forgotten just how charming and delightful a venue for chamber music the MacPherson can be. I did, however, have one problem with the evening's logistics: as I should like to have written in my notebook: "I can't see to write a ******* thing!", but writing anything so lengthy and complex would have necessitated sitting hunched over, with my notebook held at foot level, to catch the emergency lights. Not really practicable.
Which should go some way to explaining any lack of detail in the preceding.
That minor quibble aside, this was a totally rewarding evening's music: this town really is blessed.
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