San Francisco Classical Voice

CHAMBER MUSIC REVIEW Rich But Heavy-Handed

January 7, 2002

By Nikki Buechler

Which is more difficult — tackling a nasty lick, or battling an unsympathetic acoustic? The American Quartet's recital at the Great Hall of Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, January 7, left little doubt which was the harder task for them. The technical hurdles in the music posed no problem. The acoustic did.

The Great Hall is cavernous, which makes it difficult for the players to project their sound toward the back rows — everything just disappears into the space. In this situation, experienced musicians will often exaggerate bow strokes and articulation, knowing that a few feet away the sound will already be getting a bit mushy. The compensation comes at the expense of the people in the front row (at Kohl they were seated almost so close as to be able to turn the quartet's pages), who have to listen to crunchy bow changes and extravagant gestures. The people in the back row, meanwhile, will be in a musical fog, no matter what the players do.

The quartet did manage to adapt somewhat, though not until around the third movement of the opening piece, Mozart's "Hoffmeister" Quartet in D Major, K. 499. The group produces an enchantingly rich, chocolaty sound, which helped make up for their initial difficulty adjusting to the room's acoustics. However, their interpretation of the Mozart was somewhat arduous, the Adagio especially so. They opted for a sostenuto approach in places where grace and delicacy might have served the music better. Although there were brilliant moments from every player and the ensemble playing was striking, the approach was a bit heavy-handed for Mozart.

Five movements in twenty days?

According to Richard Danielpour's program notes for his String Quartet No. 4, "Apparitions," the piece was composed in twenty days. This may have been meant as a disclaimer, but if it was intended as an accolade it's a dubious one. Being able to produce a quartet movement every four days might be an impressive demonstration of fluency, but it risks raising the argument that the composition process should never be rushed.

The piece is programmatic, each movement having its own association or (in the final movement) question. The first movement, described as the composer's continuation of Puccini's La Boheme, moves between dissonance and consonance, often within a chorale-like texture. It is accessible and agreeable, if somewhat formulaic. The group's silky sound worked well with this compositional style, where intonation and beautiful sound are vital. The acoustics of the Great Hall may even have enhanced the effect of this movement. Progressively, however, the group seemed less and less engaged. By the fourth movement, 'Last Tango at Teatro Colon,' they had lost the spark.

The final movement, entitled 'Johnnie Brown,' was delivered in a matter-of-fact manner. Laced with interjections of nursery rhyme songs such as 'Pop Goes the Weasel' and 'The More We Get Together,' this chaotic piece could have been a lot of fun. Had the players decided to experiment with smiling at each other at all during the concert, this movement would have provided the perfect opportunity.

The Americans' performance of Beethoven's first "Razumovsky" Quartet, Op. 59 No. 1, technically impeccable, and without flippant or over-expressive interpretive gestures. Severe, heavy, sustained phrases, — a burden in the Mozart — were appropriate here, and complemented the work. It was an enjoyable performance, even if not extraordinarily intense.

A room cannot wholly be blamed for a lackluster performance. The acoustics might have been a factor in tempi, which were sometimes on the slow side; and dynamics seemed generally too high. The quartet played pinaissimos as if it was afraid of disappearing altogether if it dropped below a certain volume. However, a room's acoustics are a hazard of the profession and should not be insurmountable. The American Quartet possesses all the ingredients necessary to put together an exciting, dynamic performance: experience, technique, tight ensemble playing, wonderful sound, and almost perfect intonation. On this occasion, there was one crucial element missing — jouissance.

(Nikki Buechler is a PhD student at the music department at Stanford University. She has a Master's degree from St Catherine's College, Oxford, and spent 5 years working as a viola player in chamber groups, orchestras and as an occasional soloist in London, England.)