A Revelation of consummate quartet playing
Translated:
New York is big and far away — what would one know from a "Daedalus Quartet", whose name till now has been unknown? The Society of the Music Friends of Coburg as well as the Cultural Bureau of the City of Coburg with its project "Podium for young Artists" had invited the ensemble to a concert in the Congress Hall, whose program was bookended with the music of Joseph Haydn (died 1809) and Felix Mendelssohn (born 1809), but which included works by Igor Stravinsky and David Horne — music that threatened to grate aggressively on the ears. This may have moved one or another to stay away from the concert.
That was would have been a mistake, because the concert became a revelation of consummate quartet playing. From the point of view of creativity, impeccable playing and emotional satisfaction one could hardly have interpreted the individual works better.
In the year 2000 brother and sister Min-Young Kim and Kyu-Young Kim (violins, switching places at the first stand) Jessica Thompson (viola) and Raman Ramakrishnan (cello) created the ensemble, which just one year after its founding won First Prize. Today they are among the finest young string quartets of America and they are now beginning to get a foothold also in European concert halls (London, Amsterdam, Cologne, Salzburg, Vienna, and — not least — Coburg.)
The four artists opened the proceedings with a magical rendition of the last completed string quartet in F Major of Joseph Haydn, (Op. 72, No. 2). The composer was 67 years old when he composed this work and wrote "all my strength has fled me" on his visiting card. But in this work there's not a trace of this: it is gripping in the reined-in momentum of its first movement and spritely in the minuet-tainted scherzo in the Beethoven style which precede the high point of the entire work, a sophisticated slow variation movement which is followed by a "Toss- it- all- out" devil may care finale.
Who would have thought that the "Three Pieces for String Quartet" by Igor Stravinsky would sound so pleasant to the ear? They are supershort works, sound episodes, sound experiments, which start rapidly and end quietly. The composer establishes their character with metronome markings. Brutal escapes are juxtaposed with connective passages, before the little composition fades away with ethereal chords. (chords from the beyond.)
David Horne's "Flight from the Labyrinth" was given its world premiere by Daedalus. The composer born in 1970 is today a composition teacher in Manchester and wrote the work in 2004 for the New York ensemble. He took their name as programmatic inspiration for his work, namely the flight of Daedalus and his son Icarus from the labyrinth in Crete; a work, which among other things, makes incredible demands on the players with unusual technical feats for both player and instrument (including hitting, tearing, and beating). It was a hard piece of work that the four artists had to accomplish and that sent the listener to the "azure loneliness" (Nietzsche) and to the joy of proximity to the sun, but which also hinted at the dangers which eventually led to Icarus's downfall. The huge spinning out of the Cretan labyrinth found its counterpart in the dimensions of the work. The audience's applause was appropriate praise for the players' performance of this demanding work.
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was 18 years old when he wrote his string quartet in A minor, op. 13, the chamber music piece that is performed most often. Like a red thread the quote from the song "It is true" runs through all movements of this work.
Just a few magisterial chords begin the dramatic, nearly operatic events of the first movement. This is followed by a wonderfully "singing" slow movement, in which Mendelssohn demonstrates his contrapuntal skills . The first violin starts delicately in the following intermezzo, before it continues as a thunderbolt into the final presto, which in a remarkable way lets the work fade away.
The visitors offered enthralled applause for the four artists and their singular achievement. These in turn rewarded the listeners with two encores; a magical movement by Joseph Haydn and a virtuosic ragtime. One should hire this ensemble back quite soon, as long as it's still affordable.