Chamber Music Perfection
BY CHARLES LONBERGER
The Beverly Hills Outlook - an online publication
www.bhoutlook.com
Speaking strictly in terms of execution, the chamber music concert
given by the California String Quartet on April 24th at the Zipper
represented complete musical perfection. Under the leadership of
violinist Katia Popov, the group was clearly well rehearsed and played
as if of one mind. It was as if the four on stage were one, both in
interpretive approach and their physical bodies. Second violinist
Samuel Fischer, to whom many key passages were entrusted, showed an
almost intuitive synchronization with Popov and the others, cellist
Armen Ksajikian and violist Andrew Duckles. Rather than flavoring the
whole, the ensemble conjoined to present a single artistic
intelligence in essaying three very different works.
The first of which was Haydn's Quartet Opus 20, #4. Each instrument
gloriously contributed to a sterling, seamless performance, one that
was as stunning as Ms. Popov's appearance. The harmony of the
Enlightenment was perfectly expressed by this interpretation, which
put polish on this jewel.
Unfortunately, the second section, Haim Strum's "Trio String quartets
after oil paintings," made me ask: where is John Cage, now that we
need him? Cage, at least, as an aesthetic that allows pipes and brooms
to be used "musically," thereby accounting for ugliness, which
reinvigorates our sensibilities that have become accustomed to plastic
beauty. Strum, however, had no excuse, in making the strings sound out
of sorts. It was as if they were hell bent on making sound effects,
not music. Yet the Quartet played it as flawlessly as if they were
playing a masterpiece.
For Schubert's String Quartet in C Major, the group was joined by the
exceptional British cellist, Andrew Shulmann, who fit perfectly in
place as they bathed in the moodiness of the composer. In fact, it was
remarkable to note that where Haydn had very carefully separated the
moods and their effects in the various sections of his Quartet,
Schubert showcased shifts of mood within the same movement, making his
work much more complicated than Haydn, emotionally at war with itself.
The playing of Popov and Ksajikian, in particular, by its very
faultlessness, emphasized these conflicting musical personalities. It
helped us to hear a masculine and a feminine psychology sandwiched
around the sort of contemporary ugliness that gives modern music its
bad name. But whether for better or for worse, the California String
Quartet demonstrated that Chamber Music can be sublime, when prepared
and executed with the sort of care apparent to all who were fortunate
enough to hear it this night.