East Neuk Festival: Piano Quintet
Crail Church - 02/07/22
The evening of Saturday 2nd July afforded festival attendees a second opportunity to savour the special musical partnership of the Pavel Haas Quartet and the pianist Boris Giltburg, with performances of two fine examples drawn from the piano quintet repertoire, the Brahms and the Dvořák (No. 2).
The programme notes told of the difficult gestation of the Brahms, via guises of string quartet (nixed by Joseph Joachim) and duo for two pianos (panned by Clara Schumann), before the winning formula was hit upon. And it remains a winner in terms of popularity. After a clear unison opening, the characterful first movement featured rhythmic, lyrical playing, sweet cantabile and lovely sotto voce. The exposition repeat was observed and the mysterious entry to the development was beautifully pointed. Plenty of oomph in the loud bits, but always with a clear sense of the overall architecture of the music. Never was Brahms’ frequently dense scoring permitted to weigh the expressivity down, which can be a worry. The slow movement, with its high romanticism, was played with delicacy and the music allowed to breathe. The exquisite coda was delicious. Brahms’ scherzo, one of my very favourites, was equally delightful, with mystery in the sotto voce writing and majesty in the march – I always wonder if the king is aware of the palace intrigue! Agile bowing from the quartet, not afraid to take risks, contributed to the superb phrasing, while a nice choice of tempo for the majestic trio contributed to its impact. The finale sustained the characterful playing with another mysterious introduction, clear pointing of the contrapuntal writing, answering phrases with different instruments allowed to steer the music, excellent dynamic balance and control, giving due prominence to the gypsy influences with tempo shifts and good use of rubato. In summary, this was a masterly performance.
After the interval, the Dvořák was no less impressive (whilst begging forgiveness for airing my view that Czechs playing Czech music always adds an extra dimension to a performance). Needless to say, Dvořák’s glorious melodies shone through the lovely opening cello solo, the soaring first violin writing, the scurrying figures, the viola introducing the second subject and the lighter touch of Dvořák’s scoring through the development (after the observed exposition repeat, of course). The coda was superb. The dumka second movement sustained the Slavic mood with lyrical viola playing in the minor key for the opening melody and agile tutti playing in the dance section. One of Dvořák’s most gleeful scherzi, a scampering furiant, benefitted from an exciting tempo choice, while the lyrical trio was full of lilting charm. A great tempo choice equally lent pace and swagger to the finale, with a majestic introduction, a confident and purposeful allegro, a beautifully pointed fugato section and a deliciously triumphant coda. These players were “in the zone” and took the audience with them.
Another great concert, with a headful of beautiful earworms for the journey home (and still, a few days later, as I write this).
Cover photo: Neil Hanna