MiV Home
Phillip T Young Recital Hall
August 2, 2022
On October 5, 1930 the New York Philharmonic's first national broadcast took place. Just five years later the orchestra conducted a nationwide poll of its listeners, to ascertain their favourite composers.
In third place was Tchaikovsky, Beethoven was placed second.
But the winner, by a considerable margin, was Jean Sibelius.
I feel confident in asserting that Sibelius' String Quartet, Op.56, "Voces intimae" was not a factor in what, today, might seem a rather surprising result. Aside from the obvious reason, Sibelius' sole mature chamber work features some of his most enigmatic music and very few of his signature musical fingerprints, such as rapid ostinatos and lengthy pedal points. Even for hard core Sibelius enthusiasts, among whose number I count myself, it can prove a hard nut to crack.
Clearly the four members of the Voces Intimae String Quartet have come to terms with the work — I am assuming that it was, at least in part, the inspiration for their name — judging by the excellent performance which constituted the first half of their VSMF recital on Tuesday.
The opening movement (of five) was questing in nature and the players' tone, like the harmonies, was lean and occasionally bracing. The succeeding vivace was skittish, even exuberant in places.
The slow movement is the source of the work's sobriquet: over three hushed chords, the composer wrote, in pencil, "voces intimae", but gave no further explanation. The music's austere beauty was superbly conveyed, Pamela Highbaugh Aloni's eloquent cello leading to a consolatory final chord.
The fourth movement has overtones of the folk dance and evinced some trenchant playing, intense at times, while the finale was driven, but not overly so, before accelerating to a whirlwind pace to close.
A fine performance indeed, but I still cannot profess to understand the music.
"It...is not meant for small minds! It aims at breadth, vigour, the flight of imagination and above all, fullness of tone for the instruments for which it is written."
The Voces Intimae Quartet certainly took Edvard Grieg at his word, the "it" in his letter being his sole completed string quartet — there is a later, unfinished quartet and an early fugue — bringing lush, full tones to the work's bold opening. The first movement was highly volatile, with the various tempo fluctuations extremely well-managed; the coda was particularly fiery. Breadth and vigour indeed.
The slow movement was absolutely charming, with the final harmonics providing an exquisitely lovely close. The third movement is dubbed "intermezzo", but if that summons forth images of Brahms, it could hardly be farther from the case: the outer sections were in a lilting triple-time, while the central section (occupying the space a trio would in a minuet or scherzo) summoned up images of a distinctly rustic dance — Grieg's Lyric Piece "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" (Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen) sprang immediately to mind.
The finale's slow introduction soon gave way to a more folkish allegro, outgoing, exuberant and propulsive, even fiery at times, with a repeated and very distinctive eight-note rhythmic figure that seemed so familiar, but which I could not place until after I left the hall, at which point I realised that it too was from a work by Grieg, the rather better-known piano concerto.
One does not normally associate Grieg with chamber music, but this stellar performance may well have changed more than just my own opinion.
For their well-deserved encore, the quartet played "Bagel on the Malecon", a 2005 composition by the Russian-born American composer Ljova (Lev Zhurbin).
This was a delight, charming, atmospheric, with hints of Piazzolla (not a criticism) and, with its constantly shifting metre, I imagine far from easy to play, although the Voces Intimae Quartet made it look simple.
A most rewarding evening.
MiV Home