It would be hard to find a more appropriate way to launch Musica Viva’s 2022 season: a crack young Australian string quartet playing exciting music by a young, female Australian composer. Like many quartets, the Partridge String Quartet has undergone a change in personnel since they were named recipients of Musica Viva’s 2020 “FutureMakers” Leadership Initiative. Between the two items on the program, ebullient viola player, Eunice Cheng, announced that violinist Jos Jonker would join her, Mana Ohashi (violin), and Daniel Smith (cello) to complete the quartet following William Huxtable’s departure.
Commissioned for the 2018 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Holly Harrison’s Balderdash is a 15-minute trip of kaleidoscopic energy. The sonic world of this composition is bookended by a screeching evocation of amplifier feedback. In between, is what Harrison describes as “musical ideas inspired by electric guitar, including distortion, white noise, whammy bars, power-chords, dive-bombs, wah-wah, phaser effects, slap bass… [and] makes use of punk rock rhythms, dissonance, and percussive-based jams, which morph in and out of bluegrass, grunge, prog-rock, metal, and… disco” – a formidable list of ingredients. Although she says that “players go rogue (especially the cello!)” throughout the piece, she omits the fact that Balderdash is very hard on the hands. In the post-concert Q&A with the musicians, Daniel Smith admitted that he and previous competition cellists had grown calluses from achieving some of the effects – strumming, plucking, sliding, and hitting their instruments. Homing in on the concept of a competition, Harrison decided to explore rivalry between members of the quartet, and all members had a tremendous amount of fun following the instruction to “perform with abandon”. Mana Ohashi led the way on first violin, playing with wonderfully incisive, focused aggression – often high on the E-string. At times, she and Jos Jonker sounded like the two ugly sisters furiously browbeating a Cinderella viola and cello. Fortunately, the two lower instruments had their own way of fighting back. The constant variation in attack, dynamics, tone, tempi and, particularly, rhythm require immense concentration; all players met the complex demands with passionate drive and a sense of unity, even in the heat of battle.
Given the high tensile theatrics of Balderdash, it was just as well there was a short interlude before Schubert’s sublime String Quintet in C major. Musica Viva’s Senior Development Manager, Susan Eldridge, spoke about the joy of experiencing music once again in a shared space and the power of music to “connect us to ourselves and to others”. She also spoke about securing Victorian Government funding – an all-important aspect of musical performance and education – for Strike A Chord in 2022 and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in 2023. This concert was, in fact, a tribute to Musica Viva’s benefactor, Dr Graeme Watson. Eunice Cheng then spoke about how the Schubert Quintet had been the first piece the quartet members had played together when they met at the Australian National Academy of Music four years ago, and introduced cellist James Morley as their “epic backup”.
Eunice Cheng called Schubert’s Quintet “a rite of passage”, and most lovers of classical chamber music would agree that his exquisite creation is breathtaking in its beauty and emotional depth. With Jos Jonker playing first violin this time, the players immediately impressed with their sense of unity and mutual awareness. Jonker has a warm somewhat covered tone compared with Ohashi’s, but they blended beautifully and it was pleasing to hear a second violin as an equal conversationalist. Finely integrated balance combined with a clear idea of how to allow individual voices come to prominence was a hallmark of the first movement. Cheng’s generous, rich viola was allowed to bloom so naturally. (No fights there.) The miraculous Adagio saw some particularly sensitive, almost fragile playing from Jonker, underpinned by the other players moving as one in tranquil concord. The stormy middle section saw intense surges of passion before returning the haunting beauty of the opening section, where even a plucked note from a resonant cello became an eloquent statement.
Cheng had encouraged listeners to applaud after each movement if they felt like doing so, and after some hesitation, torn between an unwillingness to intrude on the moment and show their appreciation, many did. The rustic dance rhythms of the Scherzo, and the Allegretto with its Hungarian influenced first theme and Viennese second theme were treated with exuberant energy and grace. After the build up of excitement in the final coda, everybody was more than eager to give the Partridge String Quartet and James Morley the enthusiastic acclaim they deserved.
A repeat performance will be given in the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on Saturday, March 5 at 7pm. Don’t miss it!
Photo supplied.
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Heather Leviston reviewed “Partridge String Quartet & James Morley”, presented by Musica Viva at the Melbourne Recital Centre on March 1, 2022.
