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The Friends of Chamber Music’s Friday night performance by the Tokyo String Quartet at the Folly Theater was at times revelatory and other times reaffirming but always meticulously played with spell-binding musicality. Far more deserving of a larger audience, the Quartet’s recital was everything expected from an ensemble with a storied forty-plus year history.

Haydn has never been a favorite of mine; I attribute this dislike to my undergraduate days in which I fell violently ill while studying his string quartets in music history. So imagine my surprise when, over a decade later, I found myself captivated by Tokyo’s magnificent reading of the Quartet in G major, Op. 77, No. 1. Nary an eye roll or exasperated sigh overtook my person, instead I felt as though I was actually hearing Haydn for the first time. Amazing. In the hands of these skilled musicians, his melodies ceased being quaint trifles and his dazzling manipulation of motives, vibrant rhythms, and astounding passagework came to the fore. The Adagio was entrancing with blossoms of sound through carefully paced and conscientiously balanced crescendos. The three upper strings shone in their soli sections. This movement contrasted wonderfully with the fervor of the folksy third with its delightful hockets and rollicking rhythms. The Presto finale was an astonishing technical display for first violinist Martin Beaver. His speedy sixteenths ushered forth with ease and confidence, perfectly poised just above the texture without ever overpowering.

The three central movements of Hindemith’s criminally neglected Quartet No. 4, Op. 22 showcased the Quartet’s range of emotion.  While the Haydn was classically restrained, the Hindemith was unabashedly freewheeling in moods. The second movement “Schnelle Achtel: Sehr energisch” predates Shostakovich’s aggression by over a decade yet is equally energizing. Cellist Clive Greensmith was relegated to pizzicato for the majority of the movement while the upper strings played muted but piquant dance-like melodies that traversed Hindemith’s characteristic mercurial sense of line. I was eagerly anticipating Greensmith’s turn at the melody but Hindemith had other plans. Instead of the contributing melodically to the third, he blazed ahead in the fourth, a quasi-recitative for angry, pent-up cellists. It was brilliantly composed and fiercely played.

Had the concert ended there, I would have been exceedingly happy and musically fulfilled. Instead, after intermission, Robert Schumann’s Quartet in A major, Op. 41, No. 3 made an appearance. Though magnificently well played with lush romanticism, the piece lacked the compositional originality of the first two offerings.

Harkening back to the opening selection, Tokyo offered Haydn’s Minuet from Op. 20, No. 4 as the ideal encore for one of the most convincing live performances I can remember.

REVIEW:
Friends of Chamber Music
Tokyo String Quartet
Friday, October 21, 2011
Folly Theater
300 W. 12^th St., Kansas City, MO
For more information, visit http://www.chambermusic.org

Top Photo: Tokyo String Quartet in performance (Photo by Pete Checchia)

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com