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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
February 7, 2015
"The polluted source from which have sprung the evil musicians of modern Germany, the Liszts, Wagners, Schumanns, not to mention Mendelssohn in certain equivocal details of his style".
Tres amusant, n'est-ce pas?
Today, the French critic Pierre Scudo (1806-64) is hardly a household name, whereas the composers he detested are still regularly performed. Yet our amusement at his misconceived (and, one suspects, chauvinist) opinions may well turn to outrage when we realise that by "polluted source" he is referring to the late quartets of Beethoven; for many, these represent some of the greatest peaks of Western music, indeed Western art of any kind.
Saturday's splendid concert by the Lafayette String Quartet closed with a magnificent account of Beethoven's Op.132, the A minor quartet, the second of the three - the others being Opp.127 and 130 - he wrote to a commission from Prince Nikolai Galitzin (Opp.131 and 135 were written "on spec" as it were).
From the work's volatile opening to the urgent final coda, this was a performance which never put a foot wrong. Almost two centuries after its composition, the quartet still sounded "modern".
The lilting second movement is one of those which gives the lie to the oft-repeated notion that Beethoven was no melodist ("it's what he does with the thematic material"). True, his melodies are not conventionally shaped but this minuet (and its sibling, Op.130's alla Tedesca) is surely gorgeous. And who could resist the trio, with its drone suggesting bagpipes or, perhaps, the hurdy-gurdy?
The heart of the quartet - and of any halfway-decent performance (and this was so much more) - is the Heiliger Danksgesang, Beethoven's hymn of thanks for his recovery from the various gastro-intestinal illnesses which plagued him during the winter of 1824-25. The Lafayettes displayed exceptionally fine tone, dynamics and clarity of line here.
The building and relaxation of tension through the movement were superb, especially in the sections marked "Neue Kraft fühlend" (feeling of new strength), where "like a confirmed invalid in whom, all of a sudden, a change of air and surroundings, or a new course of treatment, or sometimes and organic change in himself, spontaneous and unaccountable, seems to have brought about such an improvement in his health that he begins to envisage the possibility, hitherto beyond all hope, of starting to lead belatedly a wholly different life". (Although Proust was neither writing about Beethoven, nor this movement, one feels that he should have been.)
The bracing fourth movement and ambivalent finale concluded a majestic performance.
According to Alfred Einstein, the effect of Mozart's first meeting with Haydn and his hearing the latter's Op.33 quartets was "one of the profoundest Mozart experienced in his artistic life". The (reasonably) immediate effect was to inspire the younger composer to write six quartets, "the fruit of a long and arduous labour", which he dedicated to Haydn.
The Lafayettes opened the evening with K.458, in B flat, known (particularly inappropriately) as the "Hunt" quartet.
Personally, I have never enjoyed Mozart's quartets as much as Haydn's and this was no exception. Which is, of course, entirely a matter of personal taste and no reflection on the performance which was excellent, whether in the playful opening movement, the delightful trio of the second, the concentrated cantabile of the slow movement or the springy rhythms of the finale. I will admit that I found the opening of the second movement a tad too forceful - this was the only time in the entire evening that I found myself even slightly disagreeing with the quartet's approach. But I must further admit that I did not have the same feeling about the repeat, post-trio.
My reaction to Jean Coulthard's Threnody must again be accounted as entirely personal. Despite some truly superb playing - the tonal unanimity displayed at the work's opening, for example, was outstanding - for me, the music outstayed its welcome. However, in fairness, I should point out that others in the audience found it truly moving.
A world-class quartet at the peak of their powers. Victorians are so lucky.
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