Edinburgh International Festival review: Tokyo Quartet / David Watkin

Published on Thursday 2 September 2010 20:27

MUSIC TOKYO QUARTET / DAVID WATKIN QUEEN'S HALL, EDINBURGH ***

THIS year's Edinburgh International Festival theme of "oceans apart" landed on the shores of Australia for the European premiere of the EIF co-commission from Peter Sculthorpe, String Quartet No 18.

This explored the topical issue of climate change in musical language which combined the best of western traditions with the haunting indigenous chants and songs of the South Pacific.

The rhythmic thrust of the Aboriginal didgeridoo was evoked on the cello while the other instruments imitated bird-song. Planet Earth also made an appearance in the form of a motif identified by the astronomer Johannes Kepler. Although the quartet is simply and effectively structured, the distinctive quality of Sculthorpe's individual voice made for a compelling and refreshing work.

Given the sparse nature of the Sculthorpe quartet, it was an ideal companion piece for Schubert's more richly scored String Quintet in C D956 with the Tokyo Quartet joined by the talented David Watkin, principal cellist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The two cellos provided a solid foundation over which the other strings spun out their lyrical melodies. However, the inner parts didn't always match the strength of the other instruments and this was especially apparent in Debussy's String Quartet.

Although the Tokyo Quartet play on the Paganini Quartet of Stradivarius instruments, the balance between the four players was uneven and the first and last movements lacked dynamism and overall focus.