BY MADELINE ROYCROFT
Through Nature to Eternity
Tinalley String Quartet with guest artist Lior
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre, 4 May
‘All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.’ A line of Shakespearean wisdom inspires Tinalley String Quartet’s first program of 2016, performed in Melbourne Recital Centre’s Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. Exploring life, death and compassion, the award-winning quartet is joined by Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Lior Attar, a creative force increasingly associated with the vague and ever-evolving term ‘classical crossover’. In collaboration with local composer Ade Vincent, Lior’s world premiere of Song Cycle features in the second half of a diverse program that encompasses over 100 years of classical music.
Opening the program is Ravel’s much-loved String Quartet in F Major, written in 1903 as an entry piece for the Prix de Rome. Aware of the quartet’s unnecessary technical challenges, Ravel was desperate to win the prestigious award (a feat he would never actually achieve) and chose not to rework the score. Instead, he insisted high quality players would bring it to life, which is exactly what Tinalley achieve this evening.
Masterful control and impeccable balance make this a difficult performance to fault. None of Ravel’s radical changes of mood phase the Tinalley quartet, who expertly navigate the vast sonic landscape this work demands with superb attention to thematic detail. A particular highlight is the second movement, in which percussive effects created by lively pizzicati contrast with flowing lyrical passages that show off the quartet’s polyrhythmic prowess. Body language across the group is not excessive, but there are some tender moments in which contorted facial expressions are less expressive than just plain distracting, and in these moments I find it best for the gaze to be deliberately averted. But then again, for a performance of this calibre, I’d happily sit in the audience blindfolded.
The program’s second half displays an interesting concept in which an array of short pieces by different composers are treated as ongoing movements of a larger work. Lior joins the quartet for premiere of Song Cycle, a collaboration with Ade Vincent that sets poetry by Dylan Thomas and Hazel Hall to music for string quartet and voice. After a staggered opening of sustained notes, slides, and perfectly tuned dissonances, Tinalley demonstrates versatility as it transitions into an accompanying role that is perhaps a little cringe-worthy, where violins are plucked and strummed like guitars and the cello is struck percussively.
Yet, the most compelling moments are certainly those in which the vocals take focus. There is something magical about hearing a voice as pure and expressive as Lior’s in a concert hall, especially later in the program when it is self-accompanied by guitar in My Grandfather, Lior’s touching ode to a childhood hero. It is only after this humble piece that the flowing structure of the program (and prohibition of clapping) becomes problematic, as we are soon immersed in a dramatic rendition of Barber’s Adagio from String Quartet Op.11, a revered (yet highly contrasting) standard of the repertoire. While innovative in theory, being unable to show appreciation for the raw beauty in Lior’s tear-jerking performance is an uncomfortable feeling, and watching the soloist walk off stage in silence simply does not feel right.
The final work, Nigel Westlake’s Sim Shalom for String Quartet and Voice is most effective at embracing the collaborative nature of tonight’s program. It also serves to neatly tie up the narrative – this version of Sim Shalom (or Grant Peace) is a fresh orchestration of the first movement of Westlake’s song cycle Compassion, in which ancient Hebrew and Arabic texts encourage us to let compassion guide our actions in life.
An exciting and imaginative programme, Tinalley is to be commended not only for a stellar performance, but also for continuing to break down the socially constructed barriers between popular and art music styles. With such an interesting blend of Australian and international music – old, new and reinvented – there really is something here for everyone to enjoy.
Image supplied.
