FOUNTAINHALL AT THE CROSS CHURCH (Queen’s Cross)
Monday 4th November 2024
Quartetto Noûs:
Ekaterina Vallulina First Violin
Alberto Franchin Second Violin
Sara Dambruoso Viola
Ricardo Baldizzi Cello
PROGRAMME:
Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)
String Quartet in b minor, Op. 64, No. 2
1. Allegro spiritoso; 2. Adagio ma non troppo; 3. Minuet and Trio – Allegretto; 4. Finale – Presto
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975)
String Quartet in D Op. 83
1. Allegretto; 2. Andantino; 3.Allegretto; 4. Allegretto
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
String Quartet No. 14, “Death and the Maiden”
1. Allegro; 2. Andante con moto; 3. Scherzo – Allegro molto; 4. Presto
REVIEW:
Monday’s concert, the second this season, welcomed back Quartetto Noûs from Italy to Queen’s Cross Church. They were last in Aberdeen in 2021 with two different members at that time, including the cellist.
Monday’s programme had three very fascinating String Quartets, the Haydn, Quartet in b minor 0p. 64 No. 2 having never been played before in the past 90 seasons of Aberdeen Chamber Music Concerts, so Monday’s performance was special for us. Quartet in D Op. 83 by Shostakovich is not as well known as the final work, Schubert’s Quartet, “Death and the Maiden”. It is one of the most frequently performed quartets world wide. With all three works, we were expecting something very special on Monday and we were not to be disappointed.
Haydn’s Quartet has been described as having ‘a restless, questing strain, …. at once witty and disquieting (Hyperion Records, Richard Wigmore). Yes indeed! There are many momentary pauses in the music, as if Haydn were saying to us, ‘Can you imagine what I am going to do next?’ Cellist Ricardo Baldizzi’s strong powerful playing bound the music together rather magnificently and first violinist Ekaterina Vallulina’s ornate fast playing lent great excitement to the music in the opening movement. The second movement delivered that sense of intimacy promised by Alberto Franchin in his opening remarks. The playing had delicious warmth and fabulous instrumental togetherness. The minuet captured the rhythmic bounce of the dance and the Trio was lovely. The Finale with more marked pauses was energetic and in Haydn’s good humoured way rather teasing. The cello gave us some deliciously silky playing.
Shostakovich’s Quartet in D No. 4 meshed with the Haydn in that it too had moments of surprise. The opening movement on the surface was rather bare, perhaps even bleak but the players of Quartetto Nous made threads of melody rise out of the meandering background in a thoroughly expressive and heartfelt way. This was more strongly expressed in the second slower movement. The third movement, impassioned and often tragic became more gentle as it progressed with beautifully expressive playing. It was the Finale that was most fascinating however. The playing, often folksy. went through so many different emotional stages, lightness against dark, moments of humour turning to rage or expressive of threat. There was a sense of victory followed by despair. Haydn’s musical changes rise out of good humour, Shostakovich on the other hand is reacting to a dangerous world but finding his own way of surviving and offering hope to those who are suffering. This was a performance that was very meaningful for us all in today’s disturbing world.
I was impressed by that final movement in the Shostakovich Quartet but it was Quartetto Noûs performance of the Schubert Quartet that I found most impressive of all. I had listened to several performances of the work by different String Quartets, some of them quite famous. Various musicologists had stressed the darker side of the music, its dealing with death and foreboding. And yet, so many performances I listened to had almost nothing of that in them. The music is technically difficult and the players had seized upon that side and run with it. That of course is certainly there whether in the fiery moments of the opening movement or in seeing how fast it is possible to play the final tarantella. Am I wrong in suggesting that some of those players were showing off?
What impressed me with the performance of Quartetto Noûs was their ability to bring out the darkness in the music that Schubert, who knew that he was dying intended. Monday’s players achieved that with multiple bowing techniques. They could make the music almost weep at times. The second movement built on the melody of the song “Death and the Maiden” is a fantastic tune with different decorations in its marvellously contrasting variations. The decorative passages played by Ekaterina Vallulina can be made to sound like just good fun but she was able to make them sound heartbreaking with clever deeply felt use of the bow. Cellist Ricardo Baldizzi was able to do the same when the cello held the tune. What these players were doing was so amazingly detailed in delivering the deep expressiveness which they wanted to convey to the audience. I think they were right in doing what Schubert wanted. However, it can still be fun to hear the music played as just a gigantic showpiece. Performances can be so different, but is that not the reason why we go to concerts?
Monday’s audience rose to the challenge of the fantastic performance by Quartetto Noûs. We wanted an encore and we got a rather special one. It is true that many of the best known Italian composers did not write string quartets but that does not mean that Puccini’s “Crisantemi” is the only Italian String Quartet. On Monday, as an encore, we heard a movement from a quartet by Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805) and I thought it was fantastic. Until today, the only piece by Boccherini that I knew was his famous Minuet which is from a String Quintet. When I was about seven years old we had it as the sole piece on a scratchy old record which I would play on a wind up gramophone. I really liked that piece!
ALAN COOPER