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Szymanowski, Schumann, and Shostakovich: Beau Metro Quartet, The Island Gallery, Bainbridge Island, WA, 20.2.2009 (BJ)


Chamber music has been called “the music of friends.” That was what it felt like in this well-filled room at small Bainbridge Island art gallery, with everyone close to the action. But it could also have been called “the music of couples,” since Stephen and Sue Jane Bryant are the first violinist and violist, and Tom and Virginia Dziekonski the second violinist and cellist, of the Beau Metro Quartet.

This enterprising series started its second season with a well-contrasted program of string quartets by three composers beginning with “Sh”–though, unlike the celebrated “three Bs” (Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms), the names of these three begin with different spellings. Szymanowski is best known for his evocative orchestral writing. He wrote only a handful of chamber works, and the String Quartet No. 2, dating from 1927 when he was 45, was the last of them to be composed.

Laid out in three movements, the fastest in the middle, it ranges from meditative to vigorous moods, most effectively in the richly textured slow finale. All four players were assured in technique and responded generously to every facet of the music. They were equally convincing in Schumann’s Quartet No. 2. But for me the most rewarding part of the evening came in a performance of the Quartet No. 3 by Shostakovich that dug electrifyingly into this fine work’s often vehement writing. This was chamber-music playing at its best, encompassing a wealth of expression no less varied and inspiring than can be created with the more comprehensive coloristic resources of the orchestra.

The series deserves to be here to stay, especially with programs promised like the remaining ones this season, one featuring string quintets, the other ambitiously tackling trios by Goldschmidt, Dahl, and Beethoven, as well as Schoenberg’s arduous essay in the genre. More power to these splendid musicians’ bow-arms!

Bernard Jacobson


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