Published November 12 2008
Review: Audience treated to intimate musicality by
the Artaria String Quartet
By: Samuel Block , Duluth News Tribune
In general, musicians who play together as string quartets enjoy the give and take of meaningful dialogue. Tuesday night’s performance by the Artaria String Quartet was a display of intimate conversation at the peak of
familiarity. Matinee Musicale, in this 109th season of chamber recitals, was host to the harmonious interchange at
Pilgrim Congregational Church in Duluth.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Dmitri Shostakovich and Jean Sibelius were featured, all of whom are giants as musical
communicators. Beethoven was not yet 30 when he wrote the G major quartet, Op. 18, No. 2. As the string quartet
was being defined, this is one of the clearest of the patterns. A perky, well-formed opening movement is followed
by an introspective hymn. Surprisingly, a burst of energy interrupts the hymn, and points toward the very delicate
scherzo that follows immediately. The last movement has the cello head out, as in a hunt, with everyone else
following at breakneck pace.
With a sense of incredible joy, these four musicians — Ray Shows, Nancy Oliveros, Annalee Wolf and Laura
Sewell — demonstrated the tantalizing art of communicating musically through a complex web of intimate
networks.
The 11th Quartet by Shostakovich, Op. 122, was composed in 1966, when a revered violinist passed
away. These seven interlocked movements sing boldly of the musicality of the departed artist. Plaintive
beginnings, childlike chasings, a lot of warbling around a hymn tune, are followed by a persistent “cu-cu,” as if to
jest at the seriousness of the whole experience. The cello and viola set the rhythm for a dark funeral march, which
is finally triumphed by an impassioned tribute to the glory of the late violinist. At the top of the finger board, the
violin soars into silence.
As a quartet, this was perfection. All four were interacting as beautifully as I could imagine: rise and fall, move
ahead, fall back, and let the exquisite music come to the center. This was the high moment of the evening, and one
that should remind us that quartets like the Artaria come to Duluth to communicate at deep levels.
In his Finnish storytelling manner, Sibelius used his D minor Quartet, Op. 56, as a way of sharing everything he
wanted to communicate via chamber music. These five movements have more clarity than most of his
symphonies. The warmth of the first movement story was interrupted by an unexpected intersection of energy.
Then the quartet expanded into the richness of the third movement conversation, which many in the audience
probably were humming as they left.
With an undercurrent of energy supplied by the second violin and the viola, the others charged into a folk dance.
Abruptly, an exuberant hustle-bustle from all four dancing partners catapulted us toward the final chords.
The
applause was riotous. Music does not get more enraptured than this.
I hope you were there.
SAMUEL BLACK is a chamber music pianist who teaches writing at the College of St. Scholastica, creates music
at Duluth Congregational Church, and can be reached at cooltune7@msn.com.
ARTARIA e-newsletters are sent out several times a year to keep our friends, colleagues, and students apprised of our current and upcoming activities. Click on one of the links below to know what happened in...
CURRENT ISSUE - Winter 2007
Fall 2007
Spring 2007
Fall 2006
Summer 2006
Spring 2006
Winter 2006
Fall 2005
Summer 2005 -Inaugural Issue
ARTARIA archival photos. Below are two Flash enabled files that graphically document some of the adventures we have had over the past 20 years. Enjoy!
