The Fauré Quartett played their first concert in Vancouver for Friends of Chamber Music on Tuesday evening, March 26, 2024. This fine piano quartet from Germany chose a French composer’s name for their moniker. That choice is interesting in itself, and what we heard from the musicians demonstrated something of what may have motivated this choice.
Pianist Dirk Mommertz, violinist Erika Geldsetzer, violist Sascha Frömbling, and cellist Konstantin Heidrich started the concert with the single-movement Piano Quartet in A minor by then-teenage composer Gustav Mahler. This music is very much in the tonal and timbral sound of Austro-German Romanticism. Heavily influenced at this point in his development by Schumann and Brahms, we have heard Mahler’s piece twice before, most recently in 2015 played by the “super group” comprising violinist Daniel Hope, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist David Finckel, and pianist Wu Han. This time, the musicians of the Fauré Quartett gave a passionate, expressive tone and structure to bring the deep emotion of this music to the fore. Hearing this perfectly idiomatic approach to an early Mahler work, I was intrigued to hear how the group would approach music from a different cultural tradition.
Next on the programme was the group’s namesake Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Opus 15. And the change in musical approach was startling! Gone was Mahler’s heavy Austrian tone, and in its place, we heard a light approach ideally suited to the Gallic elegance and skipping rhythms of Fauré’s different timbral and cultural idiom. Still powerfully expressive, the group’s lighter toned, rhythmically fleet, and nuanced interpretation served the feeling behind the music in this wholly persuasive live interpretation. Hearing this performance, I could have believed that the musicians had trained in the French tradition of music making. The final notes of the delightful coda faded into silence and the audience collectively took a breath before erupting into rapturous and well-earned applause.
After the intermission, came the third great “Piano Quartet No. 1”, this time by Austro-German master, Johannes Brahms. His Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Opus 25, received a deeply felt and highly expressive interpretation, with more emphasis on lyrical melody and lilting dance-like rhythms. This is Austro-German Romanticism that feels vibrant and passionate rather than stilted or claustrophobic. Concluding with a vigorous Rondo alla Zingarese, the whirl of melody and harmony and emotion brought our audience to their feet for an extended ovation.
The musicians were clearly pleased at the response to their artistry and told us post-concert that they thoroughly enjoyed playing for us. After bows and smiles on stage in response to “bravos” they decided to play a pair of encores. First was their arrangement of Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of Antonin Dvořák’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me”, a lovely and touching piece of late Romanticism with its own flavour. Second, they played their friend, Eduardo Hubert’s “Faurétango”, filled with tango flourishes and drawing on influences received from his mentor, Astor Piazzola. This was a delicious note on which to end a musically nourishing evening of notably different flavours.
The Fauré Quartett brought CDs to sell, including the newest with a collection of their preferred encores. Despite so many people no longer owning CD players, we sold more than 20 CDs, including many copies of the new encores disc because it included recordings of both short pieces the audience had just heard.
