I will always remember my disappointment when many years ago I heard the Budapest Quartet for the first time in a concert in New York City. The four musicians played with impeccable musicianship, technical perfection, stylistic integrity and faultless intonation. What incredible refinement, I thought, yet there seemed to be a dimension missing, and I found myself unmoved by the performance. I finally figured out what was wrong. Their playing was so refined and perfect that it ended up totally lacking in spontaneity and thus sounded lifeless. It was obvious that the quartet's busy schedule had them playing the same program night after night on tour through various cities and this mind numbing repetition was draining the lifeblood from the music itself.
As Chamber Music Monterey Bay opened its 1998-99 season on Wednesday, October 7, with a presentation of the Dunsmuir Piano Quartet at Sunset Center in Carmel, we heard a concert that succeeded in giving us spontaneity and vitality in spades. Not that the playing wasn't refined, for it was certainly that, but the extraordinary vitality and urgency that emanated from the stage was at times almost overwhelming in its intensity.
The Dunsmuir Piano Quartet consists of four distinguished musicians, violinist Margaret Batjer, violist Roxann Jacobson, cellist Jennifer Culp and pianist Justin Blasdale. Mr. Blasdale has been seen several times locally on the TV program "Grand Piano" both in solo recital and as soloist in the Brahms Second Piano Concerto.
Sometimes in concerts the opening work on the program serves as a vehicle for the musicians warming up, a disposable piece of fluff to precede the more important events to follow. That was certainly not the case with the Dunsmuir Quartet's performance of the first work on the evening's program, Haydn's Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in E Major, Hob. XV:28. Here was vibrant, vital playing of an order we rarely hear. Tempos were briskly exciting and the players succeeded in convincing us that we were listening to a masterpiece.
The second work of the evening was the Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello by Robert Helps, a work that Mr. Blasdale announced from the stage was written for them last year. This Quartet has an unusual feature in that the first movement is for piano solo with the other instruments remaining silent. And this interesting, brief movement consisted of quiet clusters of notes moving slowly but relentlessly around the middle of the keyboard. The second movement,
Intermezzo, was also an intimate, static and quiet affair. The third movement achieved a bit more rhythmic drive, the fourth movement contained elements of the first. The concluding movement
Postlude, Coda-The Players Gossip was an amusing conclusion to this work. Overall, we have to say that this Quartet is lacking in rhythmic vitality, but it has its charming moments.
After intermission we were treated to an intense, rich reading of the Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25. This was a knockout performance. Violinist Margaret Batjer showed us how nicely she can shape a phrase as did violist Roxann Jacobson. Cellist Jennifer Culp displayed a rich sonorous tone that soared clearly to those of us in the rear of the hall. Mr. Blasdale projected a remarkable intensity throughout, and his glorious virtuosity in the final movement
Rondo alla Zingarese was breathtaking. He took a lot of risks and pulled them off like the brilliant virtuoso he is, and he never for a moment overwhelmed the rest of the ensemble.
The next concert to be presented by Chamber Music Monterey Bay will be by the XTET Chamber Ensemble on Tuesday, November 24.
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