Tokyo String Quartet Returns
by
Lyn Bronson
My first acquaintance with the
Tokyo String Quartet was when it performed with twelve of the semi-finalists at
the Van Cliburn Piano Competition in Ft. Worth in 1985. Although in the space of
five days we heard over and over again performances of the piano quintets by
Schumann, Brahms and Dvořák, each time the quartet accommodated the wishes of
the soloist so that every performance ended up sounding different from the
others. This was even a more remarkable achievement when you consider that,
although we heard twelve performances in five days, the quartet, having had to
rehearse separately with each pianist, had in reality performed, not twelve
times, but twenty-four times in five days.
Naturally some of the players
have changed in the past twenty-five years, and the quartet today consists of
violinists Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda, violist Kazuhide Isomura and cellist
Clive Greensmith. President of Chamber Music Monterey Bay, Amy Anderson,
reminded the audience that the Tokyo String Quartet was returning for the eighth
time to Sunset Center, and last night’s performance certainly confirmed the
quartet’s sterling reputation and demonstrated why this distinguished quartet is
returning to perform for us so frequently.
On the program was an important
west coast premiere of a new work, “An Exaltation of Larks,” by composer
Jennifer Higdon, a faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music. Ms. Higdon’s
score is user friendly in that it does not assault the ear with cacophony
designed to shock (and we are frankly past that point), but instead employs more
traditional harmony, finely developed rhythmic patterns and lots of skill in
creating interesting sounds. This fourteen-minute work engaged our attention and
held it without compromise through the work’s entire duration. Higdon’s purpose
in creating this work was to suggest the wild exuberance of flocks of larks as
they fly and sing with great abandon. The word “Exaltation” is a word, Higdon
discovered, that describes a plurality of larks — we all probably know other
pluralities, such as a covey of quail, a pride of lions, etc., but an
“exaltation of larks” is probably unfamiliar to most of us, yet it certainly
tickled the fancy of Ms. Higdon, especially so since it inspired this work. The
most impressive aspect of this piece was its continuity, which pulled us along
with a kind of inevitability right up to its dramatic and effective climax.
The opening work on the program
was Mozart’ Quartet in E-flat Major, K.428, and it served to warm up the
audience with a delightful example of the players’ expressive sensitivity and
superb musicianship — with effortless instrumental virtuosity always in the
background. There was a nice naturalness and spontaneity in their playing, which
served the music well, and the final movement of the work was remarkable in its
controlled intensity.
Ending the program was a fine
performance of Schumann’s Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3. Although the first
movement of this work contains some of Schumann’s quirky off beat rhythms, a
device of which he was uncommonly fond, the players made them sound convincing,
although as is typical in Schumann, these rhythms outstay their welcome. After a
super performance of second movement, the players created a most lovely mood in
the expressive third movement, especially in the soulful coda of the movement,
which is one of the great moments in the quartet repertoire. After an exciting
and moving performance of the final movement, the quartet played as an encore, a
movement from a Haydn quartet.
My guess is that they will be
back once again in the not too distant future.
