The second concert in Melbourne’ International Arts Festival by the acclaimed Calder Quartet continued their championing of Thomas Ades, but in a more oblique way, performing three works allegedly close to the British composer. Their selection was surprisingly traditional – from Schubert to Janacek – but made for a pleasingly well rounded program performed with convincing authority.
They commenced with Schubert’s final String Quartet No. 15 in G, a frighteningly intense and personal work not heard by Schubert in his lifetime, fittingly used in Woody Allen’ tale of guilt and redemption Crimes and Misdemeanours. With its 45 minute duration it’s also demanding, something the Calders repeatedly conceded, which might not have helped their cause. Nonetheless they didn’ falter throughout the four movements, tackling its jagged harmonies and complex interwoven lines with a forceful degree of commitment. If this verged on the heavy-handed, profiting Schubert’s aggressive tendencies at the expense of his delicacy, it ensured an attentive audience.
This approach was better suited to the second half, in which their sympathies were also more clearly expressed. Stravinsky’ Three Pieces for String Quartet are mere morsels of the repertoire, and of the prolific Russian’ output, but like the miniatures of Webern, they possess riches of strange sonic invention. The third was particular impressive, demonstrating the aural equivalent of sea-sickness, in a pleasant way, as chords slipped from dissonance to consonance like flotsam aboard a slowly keening ship. Janacek’ second string quartet, subtitled Intimate Letters after the 700+ letters he wrote to his unrequited love Kamila Stosslova, was similarly unbalanced, a feature the Calders delighted in. Shifting from lush Straussian melodrama through frenzied dissonance, the crazed thoughts of the obsessive romantic were expertly conveyed; nonetheless, the violent attacks which shattered the pastoral calm of the final moments still pierced like a knife to the heart.
Joshua Meggitt
