Cavani String Quartet Impresses
by
Lyn Bronson
Annie Fullard, Mari Sato, Merry Peckham & Kirsten Docter
The Mozart Society presented last night at All Saints Church in Carmel,
the Cavani String Quartet. It was a stunning concert! These fine young players,
violinists Annie Fullard and Mari Sato, violist Kirsten Docter and cellist Merry
Peckham, each one a highly skilled virtuoso, played together with a magnificent
blending of the three P’s — precision, passion and polish.
The moment the musicians began the Mozart Divertimento in F, K. 138, you
had to marvel how their technical mastery, superb musicianship and stylistic
perfection produced a totally natural musical experience. Their fine
performance, combined with the fabulous acoustics of All Saints Church, tended
to deceive the ear and give the impression we were hearing a much larger string
ensemble than four musicians performing a string quartet.
The work itself, composed by the sixteen-year-old Mozart, was impressive
for its inspired craftsmanship and beguiling charm. The lovely performance of
the slow movement reinforced this impression of totally natural and captivating
music making. The Presto finale, with its precise intonation and rock solid
rhythms drew us into the music all the way to its satisfying conclusion.
In the Beethoven Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1, that followed, we
became much more aware of the virtuosity of the individual players. The volume
and brilliance of tone produced by violinist Annie Fullard, was astonishing. So
full and rich was her tone, it almost seemed as though she was playing a viola
rather than a violin (I would love to hear her as soloist in the Brahms Violin
Concerto). Cellist Merry Peckham was impressive in her solo passages, as was
violist Docter and the youngest member of the ensemble, Mari Sato. It was the
second movement, Adagio affettuoso et
appassionato, which made the most powerful impression with its restrained,
but tragic mood that hinted at more powerful emotions just beneath the surface.
Hearing this poignant movement performed by the Cavani Quartet was an
intensely moving experience. After the brief Scherzo and Trio, the Allegro
finale achieved many moments of exciting intensity.
The concert ended with a fine performance of Dvořák’s String Quartet in F
Major. Although this was the third
work we were hearing in the same key of F major, the stylistic differences
between them far outweighed any similarities in tonality. The very first notes
of this quartet pulled us in to the magic world of Antonin Dvořák — a musical
world filled with pleasing melodies, luscious harmonies and fascinating
interplay between the instruments (one of the great moments in the first
movement, was when the four players created real magic in a fugal development
passage). In the Lento movement we
heard more lovely melodies that were extended passionate outpourings, and almost
as extended as those of Rachmaninoff. The
third movement, allegedly inspired by Dvořák’s hearing the captivating song of a
scarlet tanager on an early morning walk in the Czech community of Spillville,
Iowa, once again featured violinist Fullard prominently and gave us another
opportunity to hear her vibrant tone and lovely skill shaping phrases with
absolute naturalness. The final movement,
Vivace, ma non troppo, was full of Dvořák’s characteristic snappy rhythms
and is beautifully written for the instruments.
The happy exuberance of this final movement was totally captivating.
Although there was no encore performed, our encore was the opportunity to
meet the musicians in the lovely reception in the community room where we were
greeted by the charming sight of a vast multitude of white candles on a table
loaded with attractive and tasty morsels. Yum, yum.
