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SEEN
AND HEARD RECITAL REVIEW
Schubert:
Alban Berg Quartet (Günther
Pichler (violin), Gerhard Schultz (violin), Isabel Charisius
(viola), Valentin Erban (cello)) with Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano),
Alois Posch (double bass) and Heinrich Schiff (cello). Queen
Elizabeth Hall, London, 25.6.2008 (BBr)
Franz Schubert:
Piano Quintet in A, The Trout, D667 (1819), String
Quintet in C, D956 (1828)
For their very last UK recital, the Alban Berg Quartet invited a
few friends into the Queen Elizabeth Hall for some very special
music making. Three members of the Alban Berg Quartet have been
playing together for 37 years – the original viola player died a
few years ago – and their thoughtful and intelligent performances
have graced concert halls the world over, but especially in London
where they have been Associate Artists of the Southbank Centre for
fifteen years. For tonight’s moving farewell to the British public
the quartet returned to the music of Vienna.
The Trout Quintet is Schubert in his happiest of moods. No
angst here, unlike the music he was to create only a few years
later, and all is sunlight and fun. With the lightest of touches
the musicians set about making the most of this innocent little
piece. The easy lyricism was never overplayed, the music allowed
to speak for itself – and there’s lots of good tunes in this work.
Underpinned by the strong bass of Alois Posch – I cannot think of
another performance where I’ve been so conscious of the bass and
felt its contribution to be so essential – and the discreet piano
of Elisabeth Leonskaja, the members of the quartet wove their
enchantment in an interpretation free from affectation or overt
display. All five performers reveled in the music and their
obvious enjoyment was communicated to a very appreciative
audience.
After the interval the complete Quartet came to the platform, with
Heinrich Schiff, to play Schubert’s last, and greatest, chamber
work – the Quintet in C. Here was a performance which
seemed to transcend time and space, in an interpretation of
exquisite beauty and pain. The long first movement – shorn of its
exposition repeat, and who wouldn’t have welcomed the chance to
commune with these players for another five minutes? – seemed
resigned, perhaps not only Schubert was conscious of the end of an
era or a life, but this approach suited the music and there was
also more than a hint of tragedy about the proceedings.
The glorious slow movement, with the merest hint of a melody from
the leader and delicate pizzicato from the 2nd cello, held
together by sustained chords from the other three players, was
positively transcendental. The storm in the middle wasn’t as big
as it sometimes is, but, within this context, it spoke of a
longing, a lust for life cut short by circumstance. Then the coda,
such simplicity – despite its symphonic proportions, this is
simple music – such delicacy, such beauty.
The manic scherzo brought us out of our reverie, and what a
sonorous sound the quintet made in the big chords which fill the
movement. The finale was a revelation. Ostensibly an uncomplicated
Hungarian dance, the players again imbued this music with a sense
of desperation, such was their interpretation that I was reminded
of the title of Rued Langgaard’s 6th Symphony,
Det himmelrivende, the heaven’s scratching
(or, perhaps, scratching at the gates of heaven) for the
players seemed to understand not only that Schubert knew his days
were numbered but that he was also aware that he had not achieved
all that he wanted to achieve, and there lay the crux of the
composition. The faster coda proved the point, racing to the end
helter skelter and the final, grinding, C’s. This was a
performance of revolt, of life cut short, lost genius. In fact, it
was a great performance of immense insight and poetry.
The warmth, and length, of the ovation they received showed how
much the music making of the Alban Berg Quartet will be missed.
Bob Briggs
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