BY ANGUS DAVISON
Musica Viva
Goldner String Quartet
Hobart Town Hall, 20 April 2015
In the opening concert of their 20th anniversary tour, the Goldner Quartet demonstrated why they are among Australia’s foremost chamber groups. The program featured two accepted classics in Gyorgy Ligeti’s ‘String Quartet no. 1’ and Beethoven’s ‘String Quartet no. 15 in A minor’. Also on the program was Australian composer Paul Stanhope’s ‘String Quartet no. 3’.
Ligeti is best known for his ‘sound mass’ works of the early 1960s, including ‘Atmospheres’ and ‘Lux Eterna’. The ‘String Quartet no. 1’ dates from just before this period and is stylistically very different. The influence of folk music from the composer’s home of Hungary is clear throughout. In 20 short, linked sections, the work moves from sinewy chromatic counterpoint to passages of uncompromising rhythmic drive. The Goldner Quartet handled the widely varying demands of this work with assurance. When the music demanded dynamism, they provided. When it required elegance, they were equally convincing. However, it was in the tender and understated moments such as the ending that they really showed their class and capacity for subtly.
Stanhope’s ‘Quartet no. 3’ comprised three movements – ‘Tracks and Traces’, ‘Dirrari Lament’ and ‘River-run’. The program notes stated the work was “inspired by figures and landscapes of Aboriginal Australia”. Of the three movements, the last was the most convincing by some margin. Combining sections of rhythmic intensity with moments of well-controlled repose it possessed attractive variety. The quiet, unresolved ending was effective. This movement would be perhaps be further strengthened were it a standalone piece.
In Beethoven’s ‘String Quartet no. 15’ the Goldner Quartet demonstrated exceptional control. The famous slow movement was especially beautiful, and very sensitively shaped. Whilst the outer movements were also delivered with great spirit, the slow movement is clearly the heart of the piece, its reason for being. The silence at the end of this movement was long and poignant.
Throughout this concert, the Goldner Quartet functioned not as four individuals, but as a unit. Chamber performance at its finest.
Image supplied.
