Takacs Quartet
Takacs Quartet
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
KATE MOLLESON
Although now based in the United States, the Hungary-founded Takacs Quartet keeps one foot firmly in the mittel-European soundworld from whence it came. And this programme was near enough to home territory: in the first half were two Czech masterpieces - Janacek's Second String Quartet Intimate Letters and Smetana's First String Quartet - and in the second half was Beethoven's Razumovsky Quartet.
Yet it seemed to take the quartet some time to get comfortable. The opening of the Janacek was a little stilted and lacked a real centre to the group sound. The narrative strands were carefully delineated - maybe too carefully, because things didn't really synthesise until the searching Adagio. Here, though, the playing was beautiful, dark and heartfelt.
Compared to the glossy virtuosity of many younger quartets the Takacs have a rugged edge to their articulation and a slight unevenness to timbre. But in works such as the Smetana, written when the composer was facing ill health and depression, the sense of struggle and fallibility becomes a valid and touching expressive component. In the slow movement Smetana recalls the happiness of his first love; the quartet handled the tender melody with grace and sincerity.
What the Takacs absolutely master is the art of musical conversation. There was a real sense of four equal players on stage, with violist Geraldine Walther leading every bit as much as first violinist Edward Dusinberre. Each exchange was passed around with utmost care: occasionally this got in the way of fluidity in the Razumovsky, but more often the attention to detail was revelatory.
Concerto Italiano
Greyfriars Kirk
Michael Tumelty
IF there is such a species as the perfect concert, then Rinaldo Alessandrino and his Concerto Italiano came very close to it in the stupendous concert they gave on Thursday night as the closing event in in this year's glorious Greyfriars Kirk Festival series.
The focus was primarily on Monteverdi, with a small clutch of great madrigals including the evocatively-titled Lettera amorosa and, particularily, the tragic Combattimeto di Tancredi e Clorinda, nominally a madrigal, but in fact a tiny, early opera with all the ingredients, not least three fabulous singers, Anna Simboli and Luca Dordola in the title parts, along with tenor Gianluca Ferrarini, Alessandrini's pristine, stylish band of strings and continuo, and this real maestro himself on harpsichord.
In parallel with that, however, and with a touch of genius, Alessandrini also gave us a piece from each of four composers, Marini, Uccellini, Merula and Castella who created a north Italian school of composition and string playing at the time of Monteverdi. The music, which I did not know, was exhilarating and astonishing. (Oh, what I learned on Thursday.)
All this was wonderful enough, but you know what Alessandrini did with all these pieces by all these composers? With impressive skill and considerable intellectual command of the psychology of concert planning, he presented the whole thing as a continuum, with no bumps, no breaks, no transitions and everyone, invisible in movement, just being in the right place at the right time. It was fluid, seam-free, flawless in structure, presentation and performance. I can't speak for the capacity audience, but this was a great musical night in my own life, and a complete education.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Usher Hall
ROSEANNA EAST
VISITING as part of a European tour this month, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Andrew Davis played to a well-sold Usher Hall audience last night.
On paper, their programme threatened to take us from the sublime to the ridiculous, starting with Strauss and ending with Grainger.
It was a curious emotional journey, though full of colour and variety.
The opening Strauss Don Juan that burst from the packed stage of players was impressive in its neatness, but for a long time failed to deliver any thrills.
When at last the heat built in the orchestra sound, we reached a satisfying climax.
Soprano Erin Wall then appeared for the Four Last Songs, making a much-anticipated return after her 2011 EIF performance of Thais.
Though her voice is undoubtedly gorgeous, in the upper register particularly, too much of her music was lost in the solid and heavily presented orchestral sound that surrounded her, and the overall result was more disappointing than transcendental.
With a reduced orchestra around him for the start of the second half, Truls Mork, on the other hand, was audible in every note of the Schumann Cello Concerto.
Mork is a visceral, impassioned and accurate player, who captured the manic qualities of this piece, though some quality of human frailty was missing.
As we came to Percy Grainger's The Warriors for the finale, Davis seemed to come alive, revelling in this unknown music.
Apparently a coded depiction of the devastation of war, it actually sounds something like a jolly 1930s Hollywood film score, although it was written in 1917.
It razzed and danced to the finish, and the audience loved it.
This review appeared in later editions of yesterday's Herald.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article