Page 92 - The Strad (February 2020)
P. 92
CONCERTS
in the rst movement pleasantly provided a buoyant A recital of contrasts from
the Takács Quartet
contrast to the lilting melody of the second theme.
e second movement boasted some incredible horn
playing, and although the nal movement perhaps
felt a bit repetitive, a sparkling, rollicking coda
nished o the evening.
LEAH HOLLINGSWORTH
RENÉE WEILER CONCERT HALL,
GREENWICH HOUSE 6 DECEMBER 2019
On their nights o, there are some members of the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, such as cellist Sam
Magill, who explore chamber music. As the climax
of this engaging evening at Greenwich House,
Schumann’s Piano Trio in D minor op.63 roared key changes, mysterious and beguiling; and the
to life with Magill and his Vista Lirica colleagues nal Rondo was eet and witty – who could hear it
Eric Grossman on the violin and Beth Levin on and not smile?
the piano. Most striking was the rst-movement In the rst movement of Bartók’s Second String
sequence for violin and cello, featuring what must Quartet, many facets had life and detail brought out
be one of the earliest uses of sul ponticello – creating at once vividly and without undue emphasis, woven
an eerie, music-box eect. e galloping rhythms together into a gripping narrative. e disparate
in the second movement emerged with vigour and elements of the second-movement Allegro molto
passion, and the nale brought the evening to a capriccioso were similarly bound into a coherent
triumphant close. whole, vehement and exciting, and there was more
Grossman appeared earlier in Schubert’s Rondo story in the halting uncertainties of the nal Lento.
brillant in B minor, and a few blurred scales didn’t is was a persuasive performance, enough so for
dampen the work’s infectious spirit, which came someone I overheard afterwards to say how much
through handsomely. As his sensitive collaborator, she had enjoyed it despite not liking Bartók.
pianist William Hobbs buoyed the frenzy without In the opening movements of Mendelssohn’s
dominating the results. Magill was also expert in A minor Quartet op.13, the dotted rhythms were
the melli uous cello line that opens the second too often smoothed out; surely the agitated
movement of Beethoven’s Trio in B at major op.11, rhythms are a vital part. But there was humour
with Levin and clarinettist Neil Rynston as eager in the Intermezzo, which brought laughter from
partners. All three combined in appealingly throaty the audience.
textures, and the nale showed the group at their TIM HOMFRAY
most alert and energetic.
BRUCE HODGES
Ӈ
ӈ
London Ӈ
ӈ
WIGMORE HALL 12 NOVEMBER 2019
e Tetzla–Vogt duo may have won a broader
TAKÁCS QUARTET audience with a widely viewed double disaster
WIGMORE HALL 7 NOVEMBER 2019 averted by a cool-headed page-turner at a recital in
Bremen, but the musicians’ talents run deeper than a
e Takács Quartet is good at Haydn. Here the four viral video can convey. Christian Teztla’s
musicians proved it again, in a performance of his programme, featuring two major 20th-century
‘Bird’ Quartet in C major op.33 no.3 which was full works, was as unconventional as his myriad, often
of personality, marked by the clipped playing of the anti-violinistic, timbral colours were mesmerising.
inner parts in the rst movement. ey were snappy For sure, this helped nudge Beethoven’s Violin AMANDA TIPTON PHOTOGRAPHY
again in the trio of the Scherzo, a jolly staccato Sonata in A op.30 no.1 to sublime heights. ere
conversation between the violins. e Adagio was extreme elegance in the rst movement, and
ma non troppo owed easily through its warm the slow movement was not so much played piano
90 THE STRAD FEBRUARY 2020 www.thestrad.com
