SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Beethoven, Whitehead, Tchaikovsky: Aroha String Quartet (Haihong Liu; Anne Loeser, violin; Zhongxian Jin, viola; Robert Ibell, cello), The Old Library, Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand, 24.9.2010 (Pse)

 

Silence descended. With utter unanimity, their bows touched the strings – and I was astonished. For one thing, rarely have I heard a string quartet produce such breathtakingly gorgeous, mellow, velvety sound. For another, given that sound, never in a thousand millennia would I have guessed that only three-quarters of the Aroha String Quartet – Haihong Liu, Zhongxian Jin and Robert Ibell – were present! Beiyi Xue, their second violinist, was indisposed and somehow, through skill or serendipity – or both – Anne Loeser, a relative stranger, had been blended in seamlessly: at least, I couldn’t “see the join”.

 

It was in 2004 that four Chinese musicians, residing and working in New Zealand, came together to form the Aroha String Quartet (ASQ). Since then there has been just one change of personnel – in 2009, Robert Ibell moved into the cellist’s chair. The ASQ quickly made a name for itself as one of NZ’s finest chamber ensembles. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the quartet’s origins, a notable hallmark is the promotion of works rooted in Chinese folk-music.

 

The ASQ has recently returned from its first venture beyond NZ’s shores, having taken part in the 2010 International Chamber Music Festival held in Austria. This has already resulted in an invitation to tour abroad again, this time giving them an opportunity to present NZ music to audiences in, of all places, China!

 

Returning to my first impression, it’s as well that we’re absolutely clear about one thing: “mellow” doesn’t mean “milk-sop” – when necessary, the ASQ packs a pretty powerful punch. If I add in their immaculate balance, total togetherness, squeaky-clean articulation, supremely sensitive expression and keen judgement of tempo, you begin to get an inkling of how well-deserved is their high repute.

 

Their opening item, Beethoven’s First Quartet (Op. 18 no. 1), proved the point. The ASQ dramatically demonstrated that, whilst Haydn’s spirit still lingered within, already the music’s virile, energetic body belonged entirely to Beethoven’s budding genius. This was, at least partly, due to the advantage they take of that mellow quality, against which incisive phrasing and forceful accents stand out more sharply – and seem more surprising. For another “partly”, their Adagio, although decidedly “quasi andante”, seemed not even a nadge too quick – a very classical, Haydnesque adagio which, rather than diminishing, again threw into greater relief Beethoven’s un-classically intense ejaculations.

 

Subsequently, something clicked in my mind. There seemed to be a strategic principle at work throughout the ASQ’s performance. Many performers of early Beethoven tend to home in on his “originality”. I don’t know whether it was deliberate, instinctive, or merely accidental, but the ASQ, by admitting instead of suppressing the evident influences, thereby underlined Beethoven’s originality rather more effectively.

 

Some sources say that Gillian Whitehead was born in Hamilton. Others, including the Oxford Dictionary of Music, say it was Whangarei. My money would have been on the Oxford, but it turns out that (for once) both the Oxford and the Grove have got it wrong! She was indeed born in Hamilton, lived in Auckland from about 1 year old, then Whangarei from about 6. As this information comes, via Chamber Music NZ, from the horse’s mouth, those with Oxford or Grove dictionaries had better consider giving their pencils a lick.

 

The architecture of Whitehead’s string quartet Moon, Tides and Shoreline, we were told, is based not on traditional forms, but on “magic squares”, although it doesn’t matter that this isn’t obvious, because one can “feel” some logic at work. One might, but I didn’t – certainly not on this first hearing. Virtually devoid of distinctive thematic signposts, it felt exactly like a suite of loosely-related “scenes”. Not that that matters, either! Making light of the considerable technical challenge, the ASQ painted a fascinating array of atmospheric sound-pictures that titillated the mind’s ear.

 

Like his contemporaneous Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Third String Quartet (Op. 30) progresses from an embattled first movement to a finale whose unbridled jollity is briefly interrupted by earlier gloom. This tremendous music often demands both sumptuous tone and crystalline clarity, but makes no concessions to their comparative incompatibility. As such, it could have been written for the ASQ, who certainly gave it their all.

 

They whipped up raging thunderstorms in the huge first-movement climaxes, tripped the nervous fantastic in the second, chilled spines in the eerily elegiac third, and then let their hair down for the breezy finale. Yet, there was not even a hint of exaggerated point-making – this was Tchaikovsky perfectly proportioned, and with his heart in its proper place, right there on his sleeve.

 

The audience was already well-satisfied, so an encore was a real bonus. The ASQ’s tasty “lollipop” was Zhang Jicheng’s arrangement of Saliha, a Chinese folk tune of the Silk Road region, near the Russian border. They ripped into this infectious, gypsy-flavoured brew, liberally spiced with intoxicating gopak-style accelerations, with such invigorating élan that they had folk, still reeling from the impact of theTchaikovsky, all but dancing in the aisles.

 

On this showing, I’m in no doubt that the Aroha is a world-class string quartet. All they lack are international engagements. It’s only a matter of time, so watch – or, rather, listen – out for them.

 

Paul Serotsky