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It wasn't hard to find a theme in the program of the Enso String Quartet at Sunday's TCCA (soon to be “InConcert Sierra”) concert: Three of the four composers were writing out of their usual genres and each for one time only. The result was a program of contrasts and similarities played with vigor, precision and intensity by the impressive young quartet.
Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade was the most familiar. Better known for over 200 lieder, or songs, Wolf completed only one movement. Witty and tuneful, it showed off Enso's paces: Vivid, intent, perfectly in harmony with each other.
Puccini's Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) is his only string quartet. In Italy chrysanthemums are symbols of death and the piece was in memory of the Duke of Savoy. Redolent of the lush pungency of the flower, operatic in style (Puccini would use themes in his opera Manon Lascaut) the piece demands close ensemble. In pre-concert comments, cellist Richard Belcher spoke of how quartets focus on three things: Intonation, intonation and intonation. The close blending and tonal consistency of Enso is not the least of its impressive talent.
The novelty was Alberto Ginastera's first String Quartet. Less well-known than his pupil Piazzolla, champion of the tango, Ginastera is one of the most important Argentinean composers. His quartets recall Bartok – “South of the Border Bartok” suggested violist Melissa Reardon. “Bartok on steroids” comes to mind too.
The 1948 work is challenging and not to everyone's taste (though TCCA audiences do not shrink from a challenge). It is filled with driving rhythms, savage, even angry dissonance, and gaucho dance figures, including the Malambo, a last-man-standing dance. It wasn't clear if the cello or the viola was the last one standing. Guitar-like strumming features large, and the intense slow movement, “Calm and Poetic,” is built around the notes of the open strings of the guitar. The work demands extraordinary ensemble-work. Sometimes it was hard to tell where notes were coming from as phrases passed seamlessly among the players, a tribute to their taut precision.
Music is full of “what ifs.” What if Beethoven had not gone deaf? What if Verdi's soprano had not fallen sick before the 1873 Naples premiere of Aida, giving him time to compose a string quartet? Performed in his hotel room for friends, the quartet was evidently not important to him. “I don't know whether the Quartet is beautiful or ugly, but I do know that it's a Quartet,” he wrote. Yet it is beautiful, and romantic, recalling operatic quartets, and hints of operas to come. Again the Enso's blending was the key to a rich and moving performance, concluding in a driving fugue. No one gets a free ride in a fugue, but then none of the Enso would want one anyway.
A Cuban-influenced encore, “Bagel on the Malakon,” by the Russian-born New York composer Ljova brought us back to earth with gentle humor and lilting rhythms.
Charles Atthill lives in Alta Sierra. So inspired was he that he is almost tempted to get his violin out again.
Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade was the most familiar. Better known for over 200 lieder, or songs, Wolf completed only one movement. Witty and tuneful, it showed off Enso's paces: Vivid, intent, perfectly in harmony with each other.
Puccini's Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) is his only string quartet. In Italy chrysanthemums are symbols of death and the piece was in memory of the Duke of Savoy. Redolent of the lush pungency of the flower, operatic in style (Puccini would use themes in his opera Manon Lascaut) the piece demands close ensemble. In pre-concert comments, cellist Richard Belcher spoke of how quartets focus on three things: Intonation, intonation and intonation. The close blending and tonal consistency of Enso is not the least of its impressive talent.
The novelty was Alberto Ginastera's first String Quartet. Less well-known than his pupil Piazzolla, champion of the tango, Ginastera is one of the most important Argentinean composers. His quartets recall Bartok – “South of the Border Bartok” suggested violist Melissa Reardon. “Bartok on steroids” comes to mind too.
The 1948 work is challenging and not to everyone's taste (though TCCA audiences do not shrink from a challenge). It is filled with driving rhythms, savage, even angry dissonance, and gaucho dance figures, including the Malambo, a last-man-standing dance. It wasn't clear if the cello or the viola was the last one standing. Guitar-like strumming features large, and the intense slow movement, “Calm and Poetic,” is built around the notes of the open strings of the guitar. The work demands extraordinary ensemble-work. Sometimes it was hard to tell where notes were coming from as phrases passed seamlessly among the players, a tribute to their taut precision.
Music is full of “what ifs.” What if Beethoven had not gone deaf? What if Verdi's soprano had not fallen sick before the 1873 Naples premiere of Aida, giving him time to compose a string quartet? Performed in his hotel room for friends, the quartet was evidently not important to him. “I don't know whether the Quartet is beautiful or ugly, but I do know that it's a Quartet,” he wrote. Yet it is beautiful, and romantic, recalling operatic quartets, and hints of operas to come. Again the Enso's blending was the key to a rich and moving performance, concluding in a driving fugue. No one gets a free ride in a fugue, but then none of the Enso would want one anyway.
A Cuban-influenced encore, “Bagel on the Malakon,” by the Russian-born New York composer Ljova brought us back to earth with gentle humor and lilting rhythms.
Charles Atthill lives in Alta Sierra. So inspired was he that he is almost tempted to get his violin out again.
