Vanguard

What better way could there be to warm your heart and soul than 120 minutes of the Australian String Quartet in their latest production, Vanguard!

Entertaining people from all over the world since 1985, the Australian String Quartet have been dedicated to musical excellence based in their home at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music.

To celebrate their almost 40 years of entertainment, they present an evening of contrasting composers and styles; Beethoven, Harry Sdraulig and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Comprising Dale Barltrop (violin), Francesca Hiew (violin), Chris Cartlidge (viola), and Michael Dahlenburg (cello) and not dressed in conventional black, the quartet are immediately approachable and exude a sense of unity and professionalism.

Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 127 is the first of his legendary "late quartets", six string quartets that comprise Beethoven's final and perhaps greatest musical achievement. Besides some aborted sketches, he had not worked significantly in the genre for over a decade. Considering he was deaf at this time; the quartet is remarkable!

One reviewer wrote that the work was an "incomprehensible, incoherent, vague, over-extended series of fantasias—chaos, from which flashes of genius emerged from time to time like lightning bolts from a black thunder cloud."

Although Op. 127 comprises four movements, it is anything but conventional. It requires the quartet to play as one and has taken them a year and a half to perfect! The first movement (maestoso – allegro) demands perfect balance and majesty. The quartet do not disappointed with counter melodies meandering throughout the movement.

The second movement (adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantabile) places us squarely in the amazing realm of late Beethoven. The quartet gives us a rhapsodic slow movement in which sustained lyricism features heavily. The movement begins with a plaintive beginning followed by a ‘jog’ in which the players seem to ‘chat to each other’ instrumentally, only to end the movement reflectively. This is Beethoven at his finest!

A bristling scherzando vivace - presto brings the music back to earth with a fitting resolution. The shortest of the movements, the finale, curiously without tempo or character marking, appears to drive the quartet home with gutsy playing and a satisfying end.

The second half of the evening begins with Harry Sdraulig’s String Quartet No.2. It is rare to have the composer in the audience. Sdraulig says - “The ASQ is phenomenally virtuosic. It’s got this incredible precision in delivery, but it also really traverses the full range of expressive colour”…..“It’s a funny thing, I think, writing for string quartet, because there’s such a baggage of history around the form. Almost every great composer has written for string quartet, so I feel a little bit of extra pressure, especially when it’s called String Quartet No. 2.”

Reminiscent of the great Peter Sculthorpe, the quartet gives an ‘arid’ feel to the piece and features striking cello and viola solos. The rapid bowing was impressive and the sound haunting and luxurious at the same time. For me, this is was the highlight of the evening.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold is known as the ‘father of film scoring’, he also sadly only wrote one opera. His string quartet No. 2, Op. 26 (1933) was written just before he moved to Hollywood and is full of musical imagery of Vienna, with gestures towards the waltzes of Johan Strauss II as well as the intricate lyricism of Richard Strauss.

The ASQ make the first movement (allegro)  joyful, passionate and luxurious simultaneously, a captivating experience.

The second movement (Intermezzo) is given a jaunty feel with frenzied sections alternating with more ‘laid back’ sections.

The third movement (larghetto) is treated as a sort of ‘lament. Written in 1933, it is a reflection of what occurred in Europe at this time, but also a taste of what is to come and features memorable violin figures, expertly played.

The final movement (waltz) is described by Chris Cartlidge as “Strauss on steroids”. Indeed, it is, it is in fact more Struss than Strauss! Featuring alternate plucking and bowing in quick succession, and an almost ‘drunken’ waltz section, it is a delight, magnificently interpreted by the ASQ.

Vanguard, presented by the inimitable Australian String Quartet is an evening of stunning musical miscellany that is sure to impress and music lover or newcomer to exemplary string ensemble!

Barry Hill OAM

Photographer: Samuel Jozeps