United Kingdom Janáček, Turnage, Bartók: Castalian String Quartet (Sini Simonen & Daniel Roberts [violin], Edgar Francis [viola], Steffan Morris [cello]). Wigmore Corridor, London, 16.1.2024. (CS)
Leoš Janáček – String Quartet No. 1, ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’
Mark-Anthony Turnage – Awake (2021, London premiere)
Béla Bartók – String Quartet No. 5 BB110
His title may need been absent from the listing of works carried out on this recital at Wigmore Corridor by the Castalian Quartet (with Edgar Francis changing Ruth Gibson), however Beethoven was the linchpin of the programme, and particularly his Kreutzer Sonata Op. 47 which was premiered (accompanied by the composer) in Vienna in 1803 by the mulatto violinist, George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1778-1860), to whom the work (then often known as the Sonata Mulattica) was initially devoted. Bridgetower was the son of an Afro-Caribbean servant, John Bridgetower, who served as a web page to Prince Nicolaus Esterházy through the 1780s, and a white European mom mentioned to be of Polish extraction. He loved an in depth friendship with Beethoven, however – maybe following a dispute a couple of lady, or extra doubtless as a result of Beethoven was eager to make vital connections among the many Parisian musical elite – the composer ultimately renamed and rededicated the sonata to the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer (who, paradoxically, didn’t just like the work and refused to play it).
Herself a gifted cellist, the previous US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Rita Dove, based mostly her assortment, Sonata Mulaticca, on Bridgetower’s life, and her poems have impressed Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Awake – a two-movement work for string quartet which was commissioned by the Castalian Quartet to mark the 100th anniversary of the composition of Leoš Janáček’s first string quartet, often known as the ‘Kreutzer Sonata’, which references the eponymous novella (1889) by Leo Tolstoy by which a efficiency of Beethoven’s Ninth Violin Sonata triggers psychological and emotional disturbance and a tragic, violent sequence of occasions.
Awake, which was premiered by the Castalian on the Edinburgh Worldwide Pageant in August 2023, doesn’t straight reference both Beethoven or Janáček however the titles of its two actions, ‘Bridgewater 23’ and ‘Shut out’, convey a story high quality and political undertones. The previous begins with double stops for the primary violin, although of a extra subdued tone than the bravura that opens Beethoven’s sonata, resulting in decrease string ‘nudges’ above which a sublime violin solo unfolds in a muted, questing trend. There was a lot of magnificence right here, from Sini Simonen’s candy tone to the delicacy of the unfold cello chords which assist the melody. The 4 string voices appeared very individualised as they developed the more and more stirring motifs, and power accrued as a syncopated rhythm performed by the pizzicato cello created ahead momentum above which wealthy conversations happened. The textures remained ethereal, although, and ultimately the dialogues light to a whisper, after which niente. In ‘Shut Out’, the 4 strings got here collectively in additional assertive methods however regardless of the insistent rhythmic motifs that welled up and intruded, the prevailing temper was considered one of contemplation, quiet harmonics and delicate colors bringing the work to relaxation, the ultimate chord ambiguous harmonically and in spirit.
The Castalian Quartet preceded Awake with the First String Quartet by Janáček, the anniversary of which it marks. The opening had a markedly veiled high quality, the textures seemingly much more fraught than is usually the case, and the cello’s motif calmly articulated. Restlessness and fragmentation prevailed via the motion, with a robust sense of ‘narrative’ conveyed. Particular person motifs appeared at all times urgent forwards and if there was an absence of tonal richness then this was compensated for my moments if delicacy such because the questioning placement of the ultimate bars. The eye to element and effective definition of timbre had been spectacular within the ensuing Con moto, although once more I feel I desire the fuller colors of the Takács and Wihan Quartets, and the passionate lyric depth that the Pavel Haas Quartet deliver to the work. The quiet craving of the overlapping traces of the primary violin and cello initially of the third motion was lovely, although, and the restrained tempo made for much more marked contrasts when the sul ponticello interruptions burst dramatically into the reflections. Simonen led the ensemble purposefully via the rising pressure and violence of the motion, making Janáček’s more and more angular and jagged utterances powerfully eloquent. The reprise of the opening Adagio initially of the Finale was distant and funky, whereas the next moments of melodic lyricism conveyed an apt melancholy.
After they premiered Turnage’s Awake in Edinburgh, the Castalian Quartet ended their recital with Beethoven’s Quartet in B flat Op. 130, and its unique Grosse Fuge finale. Right here, these selected Béla Bartók’s Fifth Quartet and relished its wealthy thematic range, contrapuntal freedom and people influences: they created a real sense of coherence because the number of materials expanded and developed throughout the 5 moments, that are palindromic, whereas retaining the individuality of specific motifs. There was breadth on the opening of the Allegro, which was countered by the denseness and drive of the gritty unisons, the repetitions of the latter creating a robust ‘centre’ as the fabric unfolded canonically. Particulars corresponding to vivid up-bow repetitions swept the listener into the rhetorical chew of the motion. The Adagio molto had a equally persuasive focus, the cello’s calm foundations supporting sustained lyrical depth, because the scalic motifs and open fifth pedals created a chorale-like atmosphere at instances. The ‘lopsidedness’ of the Scherzo’s Bulgarian-inspired rhythms was buoyantly playful, the variety of the fabric each clearly delineated and typically overwhelmingly assertive. The Andante introduced quasi-pointillistic precision and glimmers, grainy decrease traces serving as a mattress for the continued improvement of motifs launched within the second motion. The precision and dynamism – and the folky sweep and stamp – of the Finale was hypnotic. Bartók could also be persevering with his experimentation with symmetries, palindromes and motivic cells on this Fifth Quartet, however the Castalian communicated its very human considerations and energies.
Claire Seymour
