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AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT REVIEW
Mozart, Berg and Sibelius:
Tetzlaff Quartet. Zankel Hall, New York
City, 8.11.2008 (BH)
Tetzlaff Quartet
Christian Tetzlaff, Violin
Elisabeth Kufferath, Violin
Hanna Weinmeister, Viola
Tanja Tetzlaff, Cello
Mozart:
String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421 (1783)
Berg:
Lyric Suite (1925-1926)
Sibelius:
String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 56, "Voces intimae" (1908-1909)
It is hard to believe that the Tetzlaff Quartet, formed in 1994, was
making its New York debut with this superb concert at Zankel Hall.
Its four members include Tanja Tetzlaff, sister of Christian, who
has performed the violin concertos of Beethoven and Brahms with
James Levine and the MET Orchestra, as well as Alban Berg. It is
clear that Tetzlaff has a special affinity for this composer, and
this closeness infused Berg's Lyric Suite with a riveting
intensity that to my ears trumped the rest of the program, good as
it was.
In 1977 composer and sleuth George Perle discovered that Berg had an
affair with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, and further, had left the Lyric
Suite with handwritten notes attesting to his passion for her.
Of course, the brilliance of the score makes such background
material interesting but not wholly necessary: the music can easily
stand on its own. In six movements lasting about a half-hour, the
Tetzlaff guides took us on a rhapsodic journey including sweeping
romanticism, nervous rustlings, briny timbres from drawing the bow
near the bridge and tiny popping noises, all exploring a variety of
moods: "jovial," "ecstatic" and "gloomy" are but three.
The ensemble's variety and contrast made the score spring to
mysterious life, with their attention to texture particularly
enthralling. Sweeping sensuality gave way to hair-raisingly wan
passages. Shrieks were followed by whispers, in the keenest focus
on dynamics of the entire evening. And the musicians' exquisite
attention to each other, in the best tradition of listening and
responding, reminded me of why some think the string quartet is the
highest form of musical expression.
The other "big" piece was the last quartet of Sibelius, written when
the composer was saddled by the specter of cancer. Although no one
in my party was completely won over, I found the score intriguing
enough in its constantly shifting pace, spread over five movements.
It is lean and sorrowful, gently bobbing in deliberate unadorned
sparseness. In this quartet's hands, the heart of the work was the
middle Adagio di molto, combining nostalgia, whispers and
passion, made even more effective following the lighter-than-air
second Vivace. Even stepping into a few puddles of faulty
intonation didn't sap the mood.
The evening began with Mozart's String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421 in
a graceful, lithe reading that emphasized its debt to Haydn. If the
players didn't quite catch fire until the Berg, they still showed
their unanimity of purpose with a sheen that was immediately
audible. They offered more Mozart for their encore, the final
Molto allegro from his String Quartet in G Major, K. 387.
Bruce Hodges