by Melanie Wong
Many of today’s leading classical artists kicked off their
careers by winning Concert Artists Guild's Victor Elmaleh Competition—the Grammy
Award-winning Parker Quartet, Grammy-nominated wind quintet Imani Winds, and
Klezmer clarinet extraordinaire David Krakauer, to name a few. So, what better
way to spend a Tuesday night than to attend the Carnegie Hall debut of one of CAG’s
2011 winners, the Amphion String Quartet?
Hugo Wolf’s lively Italian Serenade opened the
program, giving ASQ the chance to show fantastic blend, style, and dynamics; however,
their choice of tempi was quite hasty and felt a bit chaotic, with frequent
moments of uncertainty. Although frenzied, their rendition held together well and kept the audience firmly on
the edge of their seats.
With nerves calmed, ASQ followed the Wolf with a combination
piece: the Andante fragment from
Franz Schubert’s unfinished Quartet in C minor, leading directly into Bruce
Adolphe’s reactionary work, Fra(nz)g-mentation.
A mere two minutes of music, Schubert’s fragment ends abruptly, trailing off in
the middle of descending triplets in the first violin. In contrast to Schubert’s
early Romantic style, Adolphe’s reaction was more modern—a mellow start that quickly
became more violent, twisting and turning in unexpected directions. The work
fragmented between calm and crazed sections with increasing intensity until its
dramatic end. ASQ delivered both the Schubert and the Adolphe with extreme
precision and energy; their ability to imperceptibly shift moods is a wonderful
strength.
Leoš Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters,” closed the first half, a fascinatingly schizophrenic love
story written for his muse, Kamila Stosslova, to whom he wrote hundreds of love
letters throughout his lifetime. It’s a fine line between genius and insanity,
and by the end of the tumultuous work, Janáček’s moods and characters dramatically shifted every few
bars. From excitement to despair, passion to longing, joy to sadness, and
serenity to mania, ASQ showed an inimitable ability to effectively and
accurately depict the many facets of the composer’s deranged, yet fully
intriguing, emotional state.
After intermission, guest artist David Shifrin joined ASQ
for Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. Here, ASQ acted as perfect
accompanists—solid, stylistic, and consistently supportive. Shifrin, a renowned
clarinetist (and 1973 CAG winner), performed the Mozart in an oddly Romantic style,
and although his technique was effortless throughout the technical passages, it was
frequently careless during simpler ones. Still, Shifrin gracefully floated in
and out of ASQ’s sound and, on the whole, made playing the clarinet look easy.
Special kudos to cellist Mihai Marica and violist Wei-Yang
Andy Lin, whose particularly rich sounds and blend were a real treat. So evenly
matched, the two often sounded like one player and consistently provided a
solid bass for the quartet to stand on. ASQ are captivating performers, to say
the least, and it would not be surprising to see them up for a Grammy in the
future (watch out, Parker Quartet…).
Surely a group not to miss, ASQ will be
back in New York City in mid-July for a workshop and performance at New York University.