On Tuesday, October 29, 2024, the Friends of Chamber Music and our audience welcomed our friends, the musicians in the Ariel Quartet, back to the Vancouver Playhouse. We made their acquaintance when they appeared as a last-minute replacement for an ensemble unable to play for us on the agreed date. The Ariel played a concert in New York on the Sunday, flew back to Cincinnati, Ohio to pick up their passports, and travelled on to Vancouver in time to play a concert on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. That concert was a surprise for all of us in the audience; as people were heading for the doors after the concert, many exclaimed that they hoped the Friends would bring the Ariel Quartet back soon.
A return concert was in the works for early 2021 – and then the pandemic and Public Health Orders brought all plans to a halt for more than a year. At last, we found an opportunity, and our popular young friends were back to play a second concert for us. On this occasion, Alexandra Kazovsky played first violin throughout the concert – reflecting the repertoire on the program. If the music selection had been different, she and Gershon Gerchikov might have alternated first and second violins. The other half of the string quartet is the notably tall Jan Gruning, viola, and Amit Even-Tov, cello.
Their October 2024 programme was substantial! The evening began with Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. The composer’s only string quartet, and written when he was a young man, this work received its 23rd performance in the 76-season history of the Friends in Vancouver. And this was a special performance, offered with a distinctive Gallic rhythmic lilt. These players bring out a timbral delicacy and sweet, singing tone during softer passages that sounds distinctly different from other quartets in concert. But when the composer expects power, these four musicians attack with dynamism and passion, while maintaining clean intonation and great balance amongst the voices. The Ravel Quartet was deliciously idiomatic.
Their second item on our programme was Israeli pianist and composer Matan Porat’s “Four Ladino Songs for String Quartet”, commissioned for the Ariel Quartet and completed in 2020. Gershon Gerchikov spoke from the stage, giving us a friendly introduction to music we were hearing for the first time. Their friend composed the music using four Sephardic songs from the 15th Century, songs about unrequited love, a troubling mother-in-law, etc., to create a work in three movements that was tailored to the Ariel Quartet and their collective abilities. Including singing, which added a striking and unexpected element. By turns modern and archaic, this is an emotionally touching piece filled with close harmonies and twisting melodies that also shows the range of skills of these four musicians. I hope we can hear this music again sometime.
After intermission, the Ariel Quartet played one of the monumental classics of the string quartet repertoire, Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet in C Major, Opus 59 No 3 “Razumovsky”. It was the 20th time Opus 59 No 3 has been played for Friends across our 76-season history. This third Razumovsky quartet has an opening that sounds similar to the opening of Mozart’s “Dissonance” quartet. And the musicians set the mood beautifully throughout the Andante con moto section. When they burst out with the Allegro vivace transition and then through the rest of the first movement, their sense of rhythm, architecture, and beauty of tone was matched by their spontaneous passion and excitement. While different from other interpretations I have heard, this was wholly compelling music-making, exhibiting both power and beauty.
Upon receiving the bravos and an extended standing ovation, the musicians were clearly in a good mood as they left the stage. And so were the audience members who were very pleased to have heard the scheduled second concert by the Ariel Quartet, after having been pleasantly surprised by the quartet’s first unexpected appearance in Vancouver back in 2019. We hope there may be further happy returns in future.
And we hope you will join us, either returning or for the first time, when the Pražák Quartet returns to Vancouver. Popular with our audience for almost 40 years, this fine Czech quartet will give a masterclass at Pyatt Hall, part of the VSO School of Music, 843 Seymour Street, Vancouver, on Saturday, November 9, 2024, from 5 pm – 7 pm. One of the student groups to be coached at the masterclass is the Astral Quartet, which won our Young Musicians Competition in April 2024. Tickets for the masterclass are only $15 and available from the VSO School of Music and at the door.
https://vsoschoolofmusic.ca/program/international-teacher-masterclasses/
Pražák Quartet will play for Friends on Sunday, November 10, 2024, at 3 pm at the Vancouver Playhouse. This is the first of four Sunday matinee concerts this season – a rare opportunity for those unable to attend Tuesday evening concerts. For more information about the concert and to purchase tickets, please click on the link:
https://friendsofchambermusic.ca/concert/prazak-quartet-4/
See you soon for more great music!
