Last night the Arnica Quartet performed as part of the new (and hopefully annual) MarchMusic series held at the new OHSU medical office building (now informally known as the “Tram building”). It was an encouraging experiment. The lobby of this new LEED platinum-certified structure has surprisingly wonderful acoustics – we could hear each other very well, hear ourselves very well, and the three story atrium contributes a nice reverberation bloom to the sound. I would have liked to have talked a bit more, and I know that the audience was expecting more of that, but there wasn’t a graceful way to get to the microphone after the intermission, before we began the Debussy.
Overall, I think the concert went well. There were the usual glitches that always happen in a first public performance of a piece together, but there were a lot of nice moments as well. I’m finding that each time I approach a new Beethoven quartet, that there is yet more to marvel at. The care of construction, the sureness of his orchestration, and an innate sense of drama derived from the form – it’s all right there, as good as you could want, and all within the constraints of the typical Classical forms. All this in Op. 18 – before Beethoven reached his 30th birthday.
The Debussy is a continuing revelation. Having done the Ravel and Debussy with the Ethos Quartet, I’m firmly convinced that the Debussy is the superior composition. The Ravel owes much to it, and is a beautiful and masterful piece. But the Debussy is so tight in its construction, and one is so unaware of the construction nonetheless, that it is a miracle. The taut, driven energy of the opening of the first movement is contrasted by the languid fluidity of the third movement, while the second movement makes extensive use of pizzicato (plucking of the strings), and the final movement makes the quartet a cyclical event with the high energy return of the opening theme of the piece. The ending is exhilarating, almost orchestral in its scope and sweep. It’s a difficult piece to play well, but always worth the effort.
It was also nice to meet one of my readers – “Eva” – in the flesh, and to have Elaine Calder (Oregon Symphony consultant) take time out of a busy evening to come hear us.
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Hey, Chas. I agree about the Debussy v. Ravel quartet issue. Except, Ravel has that damned scherzo–so unbelievably good! Let’s just say that there’s enough room on my iPod for both. It’s also interesting that both are early works, and not necessarily representative of the composers’ later masterpieces (i.e. any of Debussy’s sonatas, or Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello). For me, the Debussy is a beautifully expressive work, while the Ravel is a technical marvel (for a kid in his twenties!).
Yeah, the Ravel does amaze with its precocity, and the scherzo is as good as you say. I’m just really swayed by the tightness of Debussy’s concept, especially in his first and only string quartet. And as a piece of absolute music, it stands apart from his large scale works with their pictorial content. I’m glad they both got the quartet bug when they did, however!
Oh, and I forgot to say that we are doing Jeux this season, and I love the piano Preludes as well (of Debussy).
“Jeux,” for me, is one of those every-once-in-awhile pieces that doesn’t seem to have any precedents or followers. A total original. (I always teach it in my orchestration class.) D. Robertson guest conducted the Juilliard Orchestra a few years back and programmed it alongside Ligeti’s “Atmospheres” (the opener) and the “Turangalila-Symphony” (second half). For me, this is ideal programming – unapologetic (i.e no bon-bon throw in) and of a piece (i.e. all 20th-c. masterpieces, each important in it own right, and yet somehow sonically connected). That’s the kind of thing that will make me go to an orchestra concert. Haven’t been to many like that that I’ll remember forever.