Miami String Quartet: The Audience Is Listening
Bates Recital Hall, March 29
From their first selection at Bates Recital Hall, the four members of the Miami String Quartet carried on the musical equivalent of a high-level conversation among four sensitive listeners attuned to the company and the topic at hand — in this case, composers who had pushed the musical envelope to create the unexpected from a string quartet. The quartet focused specifically on Franz Joseph Haydn, Edvard Grieg, and Alberto Ginastera.
First up was Haydn, a perennial audience-pleaser today, and yet in the six “Sun Quartets” of Op. 20, Haydn revolutionized string quartets by shifting the balance of the musical equation. Instead of three instruments supporting a violin solo, as was traditional for string foursomes, each instrument was given an equal voice in the musical conversation, taking turns or merging at times into a robust chorus. This opened up a new era for string quartets. Keith Robinson’s wide-ranging cello grounded the quartet and provided a distinctive guttural sound, while the solos by violinist Ivan Chang sent the ensemble’s sound soaring with a remarkable delicacy.
The flow of music as one instrument in the quartet gave way to another was seamless, particularly in Ginastera’s String Quartet No. 1, Op. 20 from 1948. In this earthy piece, the balance of the instruments shifted again, and the group made effective use of so-called experimental sounds — pinging, plucking, buzzing — as well as silence. At one point, Chang gently pulled a long, high squeal from his violin, and the slow disappearance of the thin sound transformed it into a powerful absence. One of the quartet’s aims is to bring the emotion at the core of the music — in fact, in each note — into play, and they succeed. They also bring their own emotions into play, and it was a pleasure to see how much the quartet enjoyed playing Ginastera in particular.
As much as I enjoy watching the give-and-take among musical artists, I sometimes give sight a rest, and the sound becomes magnified. As the quartet played Grieg’s Quartet in G Minor, Op. 27, it sounded deep and throaty — more muscular and full than one normally expects from a chamber music ensemble. Hearing this in a finale that made full use of Haydn’s lead and a light use of plucking and pinging, plus a high, floating violin screech that seems to anticipate Ginastera’s, especially in the way it ends leaving a profound sense of absence, one could hear another interesting conversation, this one among composers across two continents and three centuries.
With this exceptionally thoughtful program and a performance brimming with joy and gusto, the Miami String Quartet proved itself a thoroughly engaging conversationalist. When this ensemble has something to say, well, it’s worth listening.
This article appears in April 18 • 2003.