New Zealand String Quartet

No coughing, no clearing of throats to relax or show boredom, but anxious waiting for what was to follow. This was typical of the extent to which the NZSQ fascinated the Deventer audience, which is only natural when music is made so intensely and passionately. It did ask for an encore: the (Quartet’s?) own subtle arrangement of a harmonious little work for piano by Debussy, which gave air to the sorely tested nervous system.

Mendelssohn’s Capriccio in e minor at first glided elegantly through the water like Tuonela’s swan until the turbo was geared for the Allegro fugato.

It started with Kartsigar by John Psathas, a New Zealander of Greek birth. He is famous for his Matre’s Dance for percussion and piano, which is passionately promoted by Evelyn Glennie, a percussionist. However, Psathas’ breakthrough came with his saxophone concerto. We also know him as the composer of the music played at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympic Games. The double Kartsigar (a ‘characteristic’ and a regional name in Greek) contains transcriptions of phonographically recorded performances by a Greek clarinet player and a percussionist in addition to the composer’s own ideas. Its character is determined by improvisation and a mix of influences. Hypnotic plucking effects and glides beyond the border of purity, minimalistic little features, NZSQ made a passionate plea for it.

Shostakovich’s struggle with his health and the death of a violin player of the Beethoven Quartet resulted in his 11th String Quartet. The manner in which NZSQ interpreted its inconsolability and restlessness was moving and oppressive.

If Schubert meant to compose his frustrations of life’s unfulfilled desires in his last string quartet, he could not have wished for better interpreters than the NZSQ. Their motivation and passion did full justice to the contrasts, modulations and the symphonic allure. First rate!