I have been eager to hear a string quartet for a while, and the perfect opportunity came along with the recital by the Artemis Quartet at Zankel Hall, playing a concert of Mendelssohn's F Minor Quartet, Ginastera's String Quartet #2, and Schubert's Quartet #15 in G major. While I have not heard of the Berlin based Artemis Quartet before, they turned out to be an amazingly good ensemble; one of the best string quartets I have heard. The performance of the Schubert G major quartet was a revelation; the quartet is demanding in its exposed details and ensemble coordination. I remember when I first heard recordings of the Schubert, and I was searching for an ensemble that could play the high notes in tune. These guys can; the performance was flawless, among other things. The level of ensemble playing in this group is phenomenal; they play standing up (cellist excepted!), and are constantly listening to each other. It is almost hard to believe that an ensemble can play this well; I want to be reincarnated as a member of this group.
The Schubert quartet is one of those late Schubert pieces that show him heading in new and strange directions, with the depth of late Beethoven, but inhabiting a very different musical planet. It doesn't develop like Beethoven, but it does something else which it will take me a long time to understand. It feels symphonic at times, and, at other times, especially in this performance, it has Feldman-like moments of stillness and inaudibility. A performance I will long remember and cherish...
The Ginastera quartet, dating from 1958, was Bartok-like in some ways, especially in the pulsating rhythmic movements and in the "night music" movement. It also sounds somewhat serial at points. The Artemis gave it an impassioned, ferocious reading, and it was a pleasure to hear.
This was also my first trip to Zankel Hall, which is underneath Carnegie Hall. It was carved out of the space occupied by the old Carnegie Hall Cinema, with addtitional blasting into the Manhattan bedrock. (I remember seeing many a Bergman double feature there back in the 1970's!) It is a nicely configured space with lots of wood, but, to my ears, a little too dry for chamber music. But kind of a strange feeling to be so far underground.
