The Tarilindy String Quartet (TSQ) was established in 2021 at the Australian National Academy of Music. Its current members – Théonie Wang (Violin), Miriam Niessl (Violin), Angelina Kim (Viola) and Cindy Masterman (Cello) – are four students from Queensland, all of whom have recently completed an impressive first year of study there after graduating with various distinctions from other institutions.
The Uniting Church in Forest Street Bendigo is one of the earliest of the goldfields churches, and has an acoustic shaped not only by the hard surfaces to be found in all churches, but also by a gallery that, unusually, runs around the entire perimeter of the church space. This has been known to block the sound of larger ensembles, but it is no hindrance to a quartet, in fact the sound is clear and warm in all parts of the audience space.
P. Stanhope’s String Quartet No. 3 From the Kimberly harks back to an earlier work Jandamarra: Sing for the Country, written for large choral and orchestral forces as well as singers, actors, and dancers from the Bunuba Community in North Western Australia. The three movements are titled “Tracks and Traces”, “Dirrari Lament”, and “River-Run”.
Although premiered by the Goldner String Quartet, most would know this quartet from performances and the 2020 recording made by the Australian String Quartet. It is interesting to note that the TSQ performed Paul Stanhope’s octet Naphesh with the ASQ last year.
TSQ brought confidence to their performance from the outset. Kim offered a brief introduction to the work, then Wang gathered her colleagues together with her bow to launch into the energetic flurry of interlocking runs that begins the first movement. Communication between the players was clear, with Wang ensuring that all her entries were signalled, 2nd violinist Niessl playing the vital bridging role between both Wang and violist Kim, who herself was notable for her attentive posture between the lower and upper voices. Cellist Masterman, who often provided an effective lyrical voice underpinning the edgier passages in the upper strings when she is not matching phrasing with Kim, was less obvious but also maintained a keen eye, particularly on Wang and Kim.
The second movement is based on the song Dirrari Lament composed by Molly Jalakbiya and used with permission of the song’s custodians, June Oscar and Patsy Bedford from the Bunuba Community. The song is a lament of a mother black cockatoo, mourning the death of her chicks. The movement opened with soft harmonics, which developed into descending glissandos, the tone changing as the bow was moved between the bridge and fingerboard to give a hauntingly eerie cry reminiscent of birds such as the raven, currawong and curlew. A theme from the first movement made a re-appearance in a more tonal guise, emphasising the grief implicit in lament, and was passed between the instruments in a beautifully controlled exercise of matching tone. The movement developed, alternately rising to peaks of anguish then descending as harmonics again, until finally ending on a high figure played flawlessly at the top of the fingerboard by Wang.
The third movement opened with cello and viola passing their languid theme across to the violin and viola, and then quickly developed into a flurry of notes reminiscent of the first movement. However, we now heard more alternating two-note passages, played in turn by each instrument at speed and across strings with no detrimental change in tone, underneath developing themes in the other voices that seemed to depict the changing landscape through which the river is running. With eyes closed, it was easy to imagine bubbling rapids carrying bark and leaves into slower meanders and billabongs, and upon opening my eyes, I was struck afresh by how mature these young players sound. The movement ended with a confident flourish of speed and grace, and garnered extended applause.
After the Stanhope, impressed with the TSQ’s ability, the audience settled in to see how they coped with Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80. Composed after the death of his sister, this was his last completed work, and was probably well known to many in this audience.
Introduced by Masterman, who emphasised the work’s essential “heartbreaking, heartrending” nature, the ensuing performance showcased the technique required to sustain a work of this emotional weight. Compared to Stanhope’s second movement lament, the physicality of the players was more evident in this major Romantic composition, their bodies mirroring the rise and fall of intensity as Mendelssohn works through his anguish, anxiety and even anger.
The first two allegro movements require careful bow control to sustain the intensity of sound without succumbing to a weight that would overthrow the ornamentation, or impede the transition between sonata sections, or interrupt the flow of thematic material passed between the instruments.
The third adagio movement opened with Masterman’s elegiac cello, joined by rising pleas from each instrument weaving their story of loss. The finale is the darkest of all, coincidentally also with alternating two-note passages again requiring deft string crossing, lying underneath virtuosic passages particularly in Wang’s first violin part. The final flight of fortissimo triplets to a high C and emphatic stopped chords was breathtaking, and again received rapturous applause.
I spoke briefly with the quartet members afterwards, and asked how they found this experience of playing in a regional chamber music festival. They told me that it was a privilege to be a part of an event with first class professional musicians, so many of whom had been generous in their advice and willingness to help. “Not at all like a student-tutor relationship!” they said, which is an excellent sign of the collegiate quality of our leading chamber musicians.
Photo supplied.
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Jaynee Russell-Clarke reviewed “Rising Stars: Tarilindy Quartet”, presented as part of the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival at Forest Street Uniting Church, Bendigo on February 6, 2025.
