Doric String Quartet & Lloyd Van’t Hoff
When the 20 year old Benjamin Britten’s Three Divertimenti for String Quartet was first performed publicly in 1936 it was met, according to the composer, with “sniggers and cold silence.” So hurt was he that he withdrew the work and it was never performed publicly again until after his death in 1976. Since then it has become a regular part of the repertoire for string quartets of which there are few better than the British ensemble, the Doric Quartet. The quartet is currently in Australia thanks to Musica Viva and last night it was Sydney’s turn to hear why they are so highly regarded.
The quartet is renowned for its exceptionally clean ensemble playing and it was evident in the Britten which frequently demanded stop start precision, particularly in the March, the first of the three divertimenti. It starts in an orderly fashion all right, but soon Britten gradually begins to disrupt the proceedings, loud, soft, bows up, bows down, stop, start before order is finally restored. The second divertimento is a waltz, a work of apparent simplicity, but is it really? The intricacies of the two violins, viola and cello require careful navigation. The trio of pieces ends with a burlesque, spirits are high and the quartet galops like a fine-limbed racehorse to the end.
The second work on the programme, the British composer Thomas Ades’s Alchymia, brings Lloyd Van’t Hoff to the stage with his basset clarinet, like the soprano version but with an extended bass range. Alchymia is an old word for alchemy, the ancient practice of trying to turn base metals into gold. Readers of my reviews will know my thoughts on modern day music. Suffice it to say that it’s a good title for the work. But once again the quartet work brilliantly together and Lloyd Van’t Hoff must surely be the Heinrich Baermann of his day.
After interval the quartet returned with one of Beethoven’s finest string quartets, the one in F major, opus 59, No.1, the first of the three quartets that he wrote for the Russian ambassador to Vienna, Count Razumovsky. The work is in four movements, the first beginning with a no-nonsense declaration from the ensemble that he means business. Next comes an allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando, quite fast and lively and always playful. Beethoven drills the last point home by producing not one, not two, but three scherzandi, a most unusual and surprising turn of affairs. Movement three plunges us into a dark and somewhat tragic despondency, so unlike the opening two movements, but then Beethoven decides that that’s enough sadness and instead of pausing at the end of the adagio, the players swing straight into a jolly Russian theme, which in its geniality, hardly seems to fit the rest of the work. But no matter, the whole is a delight and it’s clear to see why the Doric players are held in such high regard.
Once again Musica Viva has succeeded in bringing the very best of the world’s players to our shores. Further concerts are at Newcastle City Recital Hall on Tuesday, 23 June; Adelaide Town Hall on Thursday, 25 June and Perth’s Regal Theatre, Subiaco on Sunday, 28 June.
Michael Morton-Evans