Classical review: The Edinburgh Quartet

Published on Wednesday 13 May 2009 18:57

THE EDINBURGH QUARTET **** RAMSHORN THEATRE, GLASGOW

THE setting for a lunchtime recital could have hardly been more perfect: the bright blue sky setting the stained glass windows inside Strathclyde University's Ramshorn Theatre glinting and a good-sized crowd awaiting an elegant programme of Haydn and Mendelssohn. The Edinburgh Quartet, however, seemed determined to provide more than mere garden party entertainment.

The powerful concentration of sound that characterised the quartet's performance immediately focused all attention on the intricacies of Haydn's Quartet in D, Op 64. Although the scalic runs in the opening allegro were as frivolous and throwaway as the work's subtitle, "Lark", suggests, the strong, sinewy tone with which they were realised spoke of a deeper tension within the music. This intensity continued throughout some improbably broad legato passages in the second movement and throughout burly refrains during the minuet. Such bold playing in such an intimate environment had an invigorating effect on Haydn's music, transforming the palatable into the powerful.

At times Mendelssohn's Quartet in F minor, Op 80 requires a similar kind of focused bravado. Yet arguably this piece, more so than the Haydn, also demands a good deal of delicacy. Although the Edinburgh Quartet proved more than able to fulfil the former criterion, there were moments, particularly in the adagio, in which a less biting tone might have benefited the music. Nevertheless, their steadfastly forthright sound proved just as captivating in the faster movements, and shifted the overall focus towards the boisterous physicality of Mendelssohn's music.