Exciting new quartet
Garth Wilshere
Puertas Quartet, The Hunter Concert Series, New Zealand School of Music
Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University, May 5.
Reviewed by Garth Wilshere
THIS was the second String Quartet concert in three days and the third concert featuring new or young players. Quite a week.
It is always exciting to hear a new young group, and the Puertas Quartet with two married couples and a UK and New Zealand connection is exciting and to be reckoned with. Julia McCarthy, a talented young violinist has, like the NZSQ’s Gillian Ansell, moved to viola which suits her very well. Her playing was strong and focused with warmth and robust tone. Her Husband Andrew Joyce, now NZSO principal cello, LSO Co-Principal Second Violin Tom Norris and his wife violinist Ellie Fagg comprise the group.
Their concert was intriguingly constructed to showcase their musical talents and credentials, and like the NZSQ recently, the highlight for me was the lesser-known late-romantic style work, the Zemlinsky Quartet No. 4 Op. 25 (1936) subtitled ‘Suite” a memorial to, and emulation relating to Berg’s “Lyric Suite,” which was dedicated to Zemlinsky. So both concerts in a way had a connection to Schoenberg and fin-di-siècle Vienna.They played this intriguing quartet, in six movements, in three linked pairs, with power, finesse and style, cellist Joyce’s work especially notable.
As a group they alternate leaders, which assists I think in integration and ensemble, here led by Norris in dynamic form. The opening Haydn Quartet in G, Op. 77 No. 2 led by Fagg was classically elegant and very nicely played by all. In a nod to NZ Music month to open the second half, a short work, Romance No. 1 by a friend, NZ-resident Englishman Keith Statham, while attractive enough as an encore piece, was unnecessary in this programme.
The final Beethoven Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127 was finely played. An auspicious New Zealand performance debut then, for what promises to be a bright future, for an excellent new Quartet.
Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University, May 5.
Reviewed by Garth Wilshere
THIS was the second String Quartet concert in three days and the third concert featuring new or young players. Quite a week.
It is always exciting to hear a new young group, and the Puertas Quartet with two married couples and a UK and New Zealand connection is exciting and to be reckoned with. Julia McCarthy, a talented young violinist has, like the NZSQ’s Gillian Ansell, moved to viola which suits her very well. Her playing was strong and focused with warmth and robust tone. Her Husband Andrew Joyce, now NZSO principal cello, LSO Co-Principal Second Violin Tom Norris and his wife violinist Ellie Fagg comprise the group.
Their concert was intriguingly constructed to showcase their musical talents and credentials, and like the NZSQ recently, the highlight for me was the lesser-known late-romantic style work, the Zemlinsky Quartet No. 4 Op. 25 (1936) subtitled ‘Suite” a memorial to, and emulation relating to Berg’s “Lyric Suite,” which was dedicated to Zemlinsky. So both concerts in a way had a connection to Schoenberg and fin-di-siècle Vienna.They played this intriguing quartet, in six movements, in three linked pairs, with power, finesse and style, cellist Joyce’s work especially notable.
As a group they alternate leaders, which assists I think in integration and ensemble, here led by Norris in dynamic form. The opening Haydn Quartet in G, Op. 77 No. 2 led by Fagg was classically elegant and very nicely played by all. In a nod to NZ Music month to open the second half, a short work, Romance No. 1 by a friend, NZ-resident Englishman Keith Statham, while attractive enough as an encore piece, was unnecessary in this programme.
The final Beethoven Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127 was finely played. An auspicious New Zealand performance debut then, for what promises to be a bright future, for an excellent new Quartet.
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