The Mozart Society of California in the brief period of its existence has consistently presented some of the most interesting and most intelligently conceived musical events available here locally. The Society is the brainchild of its chairman, Clifton F. Hart, who nursed it though its inception and growing pains to the point where it stands equal today to many older and more richly endowed musical institutions on the Monterey Peninsula.
Starting this season the Society is moving its series of concerts on a permanent basis to Sunset Center in Carmel. Unfortunately, the date for the Society's first event was not available at Sunset Center so its season began at the Mayflower Presbyterian Church in Pacific Grove on Friday, October 9, with a lively concert by the Lark Quartet. This ensemble consists of violinists Diane Pascal and Jennifer Orchard, violist Danielle Farina and cellist Astrid Schween. Reading about the musicians' backgrounds in the printed program revealed that these young players (for they are very young, indeed) have had the finest training and a good deal of professional experience. But the most consistently satisfying feature of the Lark Quartet was how well its members seem to get along with each other and how this aspect contributes to the magnificent quality of their ensemble.
This is no minor matter. The stories about the incompatibilities of the members of the Budapest Quartet are legion. Allegedly, they disliked each other so intensely that when booked into hotels they insisted on being quartered on separate floors so they wouldn't have to bump into each other in the corridors, or, God forbid, have to hear each other practicing. But with the Lark Quartet there was the most wonderful give and take between the musicians that suggested a genuine respect for each other as the importance of the musical line shifted from one instrument to another.
The opening work on the evening's program was Haydn's Quartet in D Major, Op 64, No. 5 "The Lark" which supposedly gets its name from the first violin's lovely melody in the first movement which soars like a bird over the earthbound accompaniment of the other three instruments. Violinist Diane Pascal gave us a nice account of this melody, but she shone even more in the
Adagio cantabile movement where she produced a gorgeous full bodied tone that was sweet and pure with exquisite shaping and subtle dynamics. Whenever I hear the "Lark" Quartet, I am always amazed all over again at how much energy is generated in the magnificent Menuetto. Pascal's performance of the first violin part with her exaggerated agogic accents on the saucy upbeats was delightful. The perpetual motion finale, and especially its great fugato development section, really made the spirits soar.
The second work on the program was the Mozart String Quartet in C Major, K.465, known as "Dissonance." It lived up to its reputation in its opening movement with its heartfelt dissonances which sound as disturbing today as they must have in the 18th century. In the second movement,
Andante cantabile, we had an opportunity to hear some lovely playing by violinist Jennifer Orchard, violist Danielle Farina and cellist Astrid Schween. The concluding two movements were solid and satisfying with their occasional moments of powerful
Sturm und Drang.
In the final work on the program, Schumann's String Quartet in F Major, Op. 41, No. 2, the remarkable slow movement,
Andante, quasi variazioni, represents a form unique to Mozart and in an unusual key (A-flat major, the flattened mediant of F Major). As has so often been pointed out, some of the string figuration in his string quartets is essentially pianistic and often awkward for strings. But the Lark Quartet smoothed out many of these passages and made the finished performance very satisfying indeed, even with the amusing off-beat syncopated accents which Schumann tended to overdo at times.
So, these fresh young musicians gave us a magnificent evening of quartet playing to which the audience responded with great enthusiasm. The quartet played one encore, an amusing work by Peter Schickele, also known as PDQ Bach.
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