2x4

Two string quartets, one steamroller.  This was a lunchtime concert in the Juliet Room at Verity Lane and it was a great space with a responsive audience and a nice clean sound.  Other than the steamroller, but that's for later.  First up was Quatuor va Kuijk playing Mozart String Quartet K458 ‘The Hunt’.  It was mightily different from the French music we'd heard a few days before at the winery.  Mozart is just perfect of course, but so was the quartet: immense delicacy, huge dynamics, lots of eyes for effective communication, just the most correct intonations and passages passed with endless simplicity and aptness.  It was in this space with this music that I could feel this group.  Then something different, even if Haydn String Quartet op.76 no 5 apparently was written in response to 'the Hunt'.  Haydn was not so much a thing of Mozartian delicacy but of power and attack and strength.  It was such a different presence for the alternative quartet. But then that steamroller.  Verity Lane is in town and work is ongoing in the old Sydney and Melbourne buildings and sadly some was scheduled for this day.  Ya gotta laugh or otherwise you'd cry.  I'm sure AM didn't find it so funny but they carried on bravely and effectively and I can only admire their perseverence.  Still, a powerful and driven performance.  I was recording and expected to drop out the bottom end, but with a close mic it wasn't nearly so evident.  So the comparison of two quartets was fascinating and informative but not as reliable as it might have been.  But fabulous none the less.

Quatuor van Kuijk and Alma Moodie Quartet performed at Verity Lane for CIMF2023.  QvK comprise Nicolas Van Kuijk and Sylvain Favre-Bulle (violons), Emmanuel François (viola) and Anthony Kondo (cello).  Alma Moodie Quartet comprise Kristian Winther and Anna da Silva Chen (violin), Dana Lee (viola) and Thomas Marlin (cello).

Chatter

Another chat session, this time with two Australian string quartets: Orava and Pietra. Orava played the other day so I know them for that. They are the seniors (relatively) having established themselves, studied in the US with the Takacs Quartet, got an agent and a CD with Deutsche Grammophon Australia (impressive) playing Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich, making their name at festivals, committed and needing to eat. The Pietra Quartet are still students at Sydney Con, developing the group, still to decide on a whole range of things like their image and style and key repertoire. I know violist Justin as he performed the Stamitz concerto on our Musica da Camera CD. Younger and developing but on the path. This all came out in discussion with moderator Vincent Plush, ABC radio presenter, ex-music lecturer and the rest. The discussions were brief but relevant: identity and presentation; naming (Orava means squirrel in Finnish); getting together and staying together; approaches to music and sound; choosing repertoire; experiences with the Australian repertoire; interestingly, "where is home"; AYO in their development (most had been AYO performers); cultivating audience; women in string quartets (not at all an issue for youth, but some historical relevance); instruments, old and new; Queensland's Year 3 string program; performing live vs recording. Lots of thoughts there, so no time for any short performance. I didn't ask my question, but it would have been "do you still play weddings", or, survival skills for musicians. Lots of interesting chatter.

Vincent Plush (moderator) interviewed the Orava and Pietra String Quartets. Orava comprises Daniel Kowalik and David Dalseno (violins), Thomas Chawner (viola) and Karol Kowalik (cello). Pietra comprises Anna Da Silva Chen and Ben Tjoa (violins), Justin Julian (viola) and Miles Mullin-Chivers (cello).

Finally

Finally Selby. I've heard about these concerts but never attended. Kathryn Selby is a Sydney pianist. She regularly gathers some mates, top players in Sydney, to perform at the NGA (and Angel Place in Sydney). It's chamber music, ranging over time. This time her friends were Sophie Rowell, Tobias Breider, Julian Smiles and "development artist" Anna Da Silva Chen. The music was great, but so was the performance. Absolutely convincing. They started with Ross Edwards Piano trio (piano, violin, cello), then Fauré Piano Quartet no.1 C minor Op.15 (added viola), then Schumann Piano quintet Eb major Op.44. The titles were none too flash. I was chatting with others after about favourites, but I couldn't pick one. They were all hugely different in style, but impressive and demands and also in interest. My ears pricked up for the spacious piano and melodic cello and the explosive third movement in Edwards. But the canon and the pizz with gambolling piano in Faure appealled. And the attractiveness of the whole and fiery running scales in the fourth movement of Schumann. These guys had serious chops. Julian Smiles played with tablet and foot page switch, but he seemed to have a terrific memory: he didn't seem to look at it too often. The others had paper and Kathyrn had her page turner. All standard. And it was nice to see a young player being brought into the fold. She was very good but the difference is apparent in an A-B comparison like this. But this was seriously satisfying chamber music. Good reason for the following it clearly has.

Kathryn Selby (piano, leader) performed with Sophie Rowell (violin), Tobias Breider (viola), Julian Smiles (cello) and Anna Da Silva Chen (violin) at the NGA theatre.