SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Other Links

Editorial Board

Google Site Search

Internet MusicWeb

Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Bermel -   Guarneri Quartet, Johannes Quartet: Presented by San Francisco Performances, Herbst Hall, San Francisco, 20.11.2008 (HS)


A strong feeling of passing the torch infused a concert meant to celebrate the Guarneri Quartet in its farewell tour. In the program, the venerable Guarneri, in its 45th year of existence, shared the stage with the Johannes Quartet, which debuted but 10 years ago. Musically, the contrast between the veterans’ emphasis on refinement and the younger group’s vitality was palpable. Both delivered stylish, insightful and technical proficient playing. If the Guarneri represents the past and the Johannes the future of string quartets, the 21st century is in good hands.

An illness forced a change in the program, which inadvertently underlined this feeling. In the original first half, the Johannes was to play a new quartet, Homonculus, by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the two ensembles were to join forces in an octet written for the occasion by William Bolcom. But the Johannes’ violist, C.J. Chang, had to bow out because of his brother’s death in South Korea a few days before the concert. The Guarneri played the entire first half of the program alone, substituting the familiar Dvorak Quartet in F Major “The American” for the Salonen and Bolcom works.

That made the appearance of the Johannes as part of the Mendelssohn Octet in the second half all the more striking. The star quality and musical stage presence of these musicians, with violist Lesley Robertson of the St. Lawrence Quartet subbing for Chang, produced an invigorating and powerful performance, making the oft-heard Mendelssohn especially fresh and vital.

In fact, the octet blew away the cobwebs of some surprisingly conservative playing by the Guarneri in the Dvorak, and even in the short, curious opener by Derek Bermel. Titled Passing Through, it interspersed increasingly dissonant episodes into the chorale from Beethoven’s final quartet—another allusion to passing of the torch, if you will. In the Guarneri’s performance, I could not be sure whether the wobbly intonation of first violin Arnold Steinhart was intentional or not, but it gave the piece a sort of woozy effect.

Although no intonation issues got in the way of the Dvorak, it was a subdued performance, by turns focusing on the subtly shifting harmonic palette and the sweet, simple melodic turns, with surprisingly little emphasis on the bouncy rhythms. It seemed un-Dvorak-ian in that way, but it made for pleasant listening, especially for the fine balances achieved by the Guarneri’s lower strings, violist Michael Tree and cellist Peter Wiley. The quartet seemed intent on making the piece into a farewell rather than a celebration of its American qualities.

By contrast, hearing the opening measures of the Mendelssohn was like bursting into the light after a walk through the woods. In no small measure the credit goes to Johannes’ two violinists, whom the Guarneri had generously assigned the lead roles. First violin Soovin Kim wrested the spotlight with his dramatic and laser-sharp playing of the exhilarating first theme, ably abetted by second violin Jessica Lee, whose tone and style matched his perfectly as she doubled, then harmonized, with his line. Meanwhile, the rest of the ensemble found a unanimity of approach to Mendelssohn’s intertwining parts, tightening the thread to make it all spring forward with tremendous joy.

The energy never let up in the Andante, which started quietly but gradually built up the energy again irrepressibly. The light-fingered Scherzo received a particularly speedy and deft performance, and the Presto finale exploded with superbly detailed enthusiasm. It got an immediate and well-deserved standing ovation from the full house, as did the Guarneri whom San Francisco Performances president Ruth Felt brought out for a farewell bow.

Harvey Steiman

^{Back to Top                                                    Cumulative Index Page}