San Francisco Classical Voice

Whenever a string quartet--plus cellist friend--decides to program Schubert's String Quintet in C Major they're approaching the musical land of supreme perfection. The Aurora String Quartet made a valiant but not altogether successful effort to reach this goal Sunday afternoon at Old First Church.

The difficulties of this impossibly beautiful work lie beyond the normal expectation of chamber music players; to perform well is only the first step. The Aurora String Quartet with Michael Grebanier as guest cellist qualifies as professional; they comes directly out of the San Francisco Symphony and have been playing as a quartet for 20 years, so their credentials are without question. Unfortunately they play as symphony personnel, not as independent chamber musicians. The imagination to shape an intimate work of art on their own is not evident. But this Schubert masterpiece demands more than skilled talent; it demands a grace that comes with the confidence in playing slowly with elegance and love. Their performance of the String Quintet fell short of the sublime.

Lesser things first. The concert opened with a trifle from Boccherini's vast repertoire of string quintets, a rather anonymous String Quintet in C Major, a pastiche compiled (according to the program notes) from several other Boccherini works. The four movements were charming; the effect was "nice". The performers handled their task with ability, being cautious not to make more of this piece that it contains. The opening Andante was pensive, if excessively square; too many 4-bar phrases sounded simplistic. The Minuet was delightful, the slow movement lyrical, the concluding Rondo bouncy if not particularly tuneful. What sums it up? Neat. Boccherini's reputation suffers in modern minds because of the proximity and greatness of Haydn, who did the same thing so much better-- though it must be admitted that the younger composer was extremely popular in his own time.

The Boccherini was an apt curtain raiser to the substantial second quartet (1987) of Ronald Caltabiano, here receiving its West Coast premiere. The piece is in three movements, the second merging without any significant break into the third. The ideas in the beginning were attractive, powerful at the start, even gripping in the dissonant syncopated chords reminiscent of Bartok. The slower contrasting theme was more telling, indeed sweet with deep sentiment. The two contrasting subjects conflicted with each other, competing for attention, alternating more and more quickly.

The slow movement, considered an "interlude," started with a lovely solo cello, but eventually turmoil returned. At this point the shape of the piece began to elude me; the description in the program notes didn't help, being a list of events that one couldn't follow with understanding. The quartet proved unsympathetic after a while; one wonders whether it was the fault of the music, or perhaps of the performers who didn't help in the design of things. Certainly they played well, even accurately, as far as one could tell; it simply didn't seem digested emotionally. The music became mired in the endless alternation of ideas, of tempos, of textures and dissonances; the beauty of the thing passed away.

After intermission came the giant Schubert Quintet. Any performance of the work has to approach a rhythmic ideal, perhaps unreal, that sits at the back of the audience's mind, a performance of heavenly dimensions. The tempo of the first movement is marked "Allegro ma non troppo"; with Schubert this sort of Allegro often takes a tender turn towards a slower Andante that breathes with intense passion.

The Aurora Quartet with Grebanier didn't agree with me; there was a sense of pushed energy, of drive, of lovely melodies flying by in some sort of haste. The Development section sounded as though Beethoven had written it, a fury of demonic anger buried there. The first movement was eloquently colored and shaded and shaped, but it didn't have the leisure, the tragic slowness that builds into something that breaks the heart, the power of Schubert I knew.

The second movement Adagio was closer in performance to one's memory of perfect Schubert, yet even here the quartet seemed curiously uncomfortable with the pace. Someone, perhaps the second cello, kept pushing the upbeat plucked notes, edging away from calm and serenity toward anxiety and restlessness. The long, achingly beautiful melody lost its strength; in the return of the opening music the background counterpoint became too loud, upsetting a once ethereal balance and the power was momentarily lost. Wonderfully, the ensemble regained their control toward the end of the movement and the quality of loveliness was restored.

Happily, the third and fourth movements were as close to the spirit of Schubert as anyone could hope for. Their momentum in the Scherzo, a Presto, was ideal for this happier moment of the Quintet. The Trio was especially beautiful, particularly because the group was able finally to attain a true pianissimo. The last movement, an Allegretto, began a bit too fiercely, a drive too taut for what is basically jaunty folk music, but eventually it settled down to a more comfortable tempo. The concluding Presto finale unfortunately became a jumble of sound, perhaps because of the hall and its unyielding reverberations. The spirit was fine, the enthusiasm admirable. The sound was mush.

The acoustic qualities of Old First Church err in the direction that most other halls would envy. Where many places suffer from dryness, Old First has too much of life; everything is too loud. Many of the problems with the music in this concert occurred because of this plummy ambience. Nobody could play a decent pianissimo without great effort. The church looks classically severe and handsome; yet if someone speaks without a mike the echo defeats intelligible speech. This is a comfortable place to spend a Sunday afternoon listening to excellent performances of great music, the appreciative audience will attest to that. Their level of programming is excellent. If only someone could soak up the sound!

(Marvin Tartak, a pianist noted for contemporary music, teaches a course in Opera at City College of San Francisco. He has written program notes for the San Francisco Symphony and Opera, has also has edited two volumes of Rossini for the Fondazione Rossini, and is soon to embark on a third.)

©1999 Marvin Tartak, all rights reserved