SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

 

The Royal Quartet:

Izabella Szalaj-Zimak (violin)

Elwira Przybylowska (violin)

Marek Czech (viola)

Michal Pepol (cello)

 

Mozart, Quartet in C major K465 ‘The Dissonance’

Shostakovich, Quartet no. 7 in F sharp minor, Op. 108

Grieg, Quartet no. 1 in G minor, Op. 27

 

 

I had been itching to hear the Royal Quartet from Warsaw as soon as it was announced they were to open this year’s Gower Festival. The Festival has always attracted outstanding quartets (just as examples, the Skampa and the Wihan in recent years), and the acoustic of the Gower churches seems perfectly attuned to them. Starting off with the great ‘Dissonance’ quartet is a pretty good test for any group, as after the mysterious early bars the lead violin really has to nail the opening phrase of the theme proper, the purest expression of soaring lyricism, but so exposed that any uncertainty could dampen the whole concert. I’m delighted to report that the Royal nailed it absolutely. That phrase creates a wonderful sense of uplift which is sustained - and sustaining - even where the music’s subsequent mood darkens slightly. I don’t believe Mozart wrote a finer quartet than this.

 

They then played Shostakovich’s 7^th. I thought I knew this extraordinary work fairly well, but I didn’t. The Royal found things in it and ways of conveying them that I never knew were there. As soon as I got home I fished out my much-admired old Borodin Quartet recording, which remains a favourite, but I really felt the Royal’s performance had more. There was a virtuosic fury of lament in the middle, disconcerting cries and bell-tollings earlier, and a clear articulation of those sections where the quartet divides into pairs and threes, wistful and haunting. Dare I say they made it sound Polish? They gave the closing passages, where the work’s opening material regathers, a certain chilly serenity.

 

Rather a shame, then, that they chose to conclude the concert with Grieg’s quartet, not showing to best advantage in this company. It’s a frustrating work, over-dependent on a rather self-conscious folksiness, with too many stop-start scurryings detracting from the more interesting and intimate sequences. Nonetheless, it was worthwhile hearing it, as it’s such a rarity, and the Royal made about as persuasive a case for it as could be imagined. The reception was as warm as usual for the Gower Festival, a marvellous fortnightly summer event, hidden almost from general view like the beautiful village churches that host it.

 

Neil Reeve