Precision, Virtuosity, and Thrilling Expressiivity

Translated:

The Daedalus Quartet from New York gave on Monday an impressive Coburg debut at the Society of Music Friends. The program included works from Joseph Haydn to David Horne.

Technical brilliance, precision of ensemble playing, analytical depth of the interpretation — this is how one might describe the playing of the Daedalus Quartet from New York, which gave its highly successful Coburg debut on Monday in the Congress Hall at the Society for Music Friends. Such a characterization could lead one to think of a typical American ensemble but it would not tell the whole story. This young, but already astonishingly accomplished quartet exhibits a lively curiosity, creative seriousness of purpose, and an ability to tie together precision, virtuosity, and expressivity. Above all, the music-making of this ensemble is far removed from any mere routine. From the first note the Daedalus Quartet, rivets your attention with its rapid fire reaction time, and controlled, yet fully alive expressiveness.

The Daedalus Quartet succeeds in making Joseph Haydn's late F Major Quartet Op. 72, No. 2 impressively intense. Precision, a sense of structure and urgency were all combined in this interpretation. Again and again this quartet succeeds at unfolding the inner compositional kingdom of Haydn's work, his subtle finesse, and his surprising nuances. 

The Daedalus Quartet, which has maintained the principle of exchanging the first chair from work to work, astonishes with its balance of sound in all dynamic regions, which is also linked to an ever-maintained transparency of tonal production.

For the guests from New York these qualities also applied to Stravinsky's "Three Pieces for String Quartet" from the year 1914, which are proffered here in their compositional density, their quasi aphoristic gestures of razor sharp precision, and stirring intensity.

With "Flight from the Labyrinth" the program was completed — a work with programmatic coloring by the Scottish composer David Horne (born in 1970) - and created specifically with the Daedalus in mind. Sharply accentuated flitting sound surfaces, stark contrasts in dynamics and movement and short lyrical interludes combine in this effectively laid out quartet, which the Daedalus projected with energetic virtuosity and no-holds-barred dedication.

After the intermission the ensemble gave an incredibly stirring rendition of the A minor Quartet by Mendelssohn (1827). Vibrant intensity of expression linked with startling, sovereign technique. The enthralled public succeeded with its thunderous applause in eliciting two encores: the virtuosic final movement of Haydn's Quartet Op. 20, No. 2 (a fugue on three themes) and a ragtime by Wynton Marsalis.