SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Haydn: String Quartet in G, op.76/1 (1797)

Debussy: String Quartet (No.1) in G minor, op.10 (1893)

Schubert: String Quartet in D minor, Death and the Maiden, D810 (1824)

 

These three sting quartets span 100 years and show how music had developed from the perfectly poised classical period to the age of impressionism and the late romantics. Was there ever another period in music which showed such startling changes? Somehow, the time from Schonberg’s abandonment of tonality and conception of the 12 note technique to total freedom in the aleatory technique espoused by John Cage and others doesn’t seem quite as thrilling: especially as so many aspect of those theories have been reversed by later composers realising that tonality and form are of paramount importance, not to mention communication with an audience.

 

In his final completed set of quartets, Haydn had lost none of his humour and good spirits and opus 76 number 1 starts off with one of his very best jokes – three loud chords calling us to attention before we go into a real romp. The Endellions made the most of this jape and showed a delightful lightness of touch while they enjoyed themselves in the simple pleasure of making music. The two types of music in the slow movement – one a hymn–like theme and the faster, sometimes agitated, material which separates the recurrences of the theme – were clearly delineated as were the fast scherzo and slower, serenade–like trio. The finale, again with jests and japes, brought the work to a really joyous end. This was splendid Haydn playing.

 

I was slightly disappointed with the performance of the Debussy Quartet for, although it was very well played, it also lacked the real punch it requires to make its impact. It’s difficult to explain exactly what it was that didn’t work for me, but the performance seemed to be taking place behind a screen and the music just didn’t travel fully in my direction. As if one hadn’t cleaned the dust off the mantelpiece, one couldn’t see the wood underneath clearly.

 

No such problems with the Schubert which was given a spellbinding performance. The first movement was all fire and passion, the second, the variations on his own song, had each element given its own distinct voice. The scherzo was wild and fantastic but it was in the finale where the Endellions really excelled. This movement is one of Schubert’s helter–skelter, mad headlong rushes, with little respite. The Quartet knew exactly how to convey the wild emotions of the music, always holding a little something in check for the next time, so that each repetition of the nervous scurrying music which permeates the whole was more intense than before. At the end, where Schubert suddenly seems to get happy – it rather spoils the drama for me – there was joy abounding. The Endellions were equally at home in Schubert’s tortured domain as in Haydn Elysian fields.

 

As an encore we were given the allegretto from Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major (H 34) – the composer’s own arrangement of his Piano Sonata No. 9 in E, op.14/1 (Beethoven sensibly changed the key for the transription). A real gem of a piece which brought good humour and classical style back to the Wigmore Hall, after such Schubertian anguish.

 

Last year the Endellion Quartet celebrated 30 years of music making. On the strength of what I heard tonight, they are set for another 30, and I wish them very good luck and best wishes for more enjoyable nights to be spent in their company.

 

Bob Briggs