Brodsky Quartet, Pump Rooms, Leamington
MUSICIANS with fifty years or more under their belt could be excused for taking things a little easy. An extra cushion on the chair for example and a nice, simple piece to ease the fingers into the concert.
Not so the Brodsky Quartet who opt to ditch the chairs and open the evening with a detailed, complex chunk of Borodin which demanded, and received, technical dexterity and sheer mental focus in equal amounts.
There are plenty of talented musicians around and as the current finals of the BBC Young Musician competition prove, the future is in very capable hands. But it’s often the relationship between players, rather than their basic ability, which provides the real quality and we’re blessed here with a lifetime of endeavour, development and understanding opening another fine series of chamber concerts.
Beethoven’s last quartet has always been a bit of an odd work. Composed after the mammoth offerings which characterise the later quartets, it’s a much smaller, focussed piece which seems reluctant to settle. The bulk of its movements are jerky, lightly confusing bursts closer in tone to composers whose work wouldn’t be commonplace for many generations.
The Brodskys thankfully eschewed any temptation to smooth the jagged edges of this far from easy landscape. Beethoven faced tough pressures in writing this music and this performance, to its credit, paints it like it is.
But for all the experimentation and innovation of these late years Beethoven somehow never mastered the art of writing a bad slow movement and the Lento which dominates the structure of this quartet is, in the hands of this first-class ensemble, as tender and beautiful as anything he wrote elsewhere.
Shostakovich’s Quartet number 3 provided a timely reminder – should one currently be needed – of the crushing pressure artists have often faced when trying to balance artistic expression with the demands of the state.
In part percussive and populated by spiky, slightly uncomfortable passages it’s a work which brings out the best in the quartet as a fluid team. In a constantly shifting pattern of three supporting a featured player, interspersed with staccato bursts and the off forlorn folk tune. The Brodskys used every moment of their experience to produce crisp lines, impeccable timing and a glorious almost peasant tone to do this splendid work justice.
In the hands of experience and simple expertise this hugely promising series got the inspirational start it deserved.
You can find full details of the early music offerings to come as well as full programme of chamber music concerts to be held at the Pump Rooms and elsewhere at leamingtonmusic.org along with ticket and booking details.
