Phoenix Collective Quartet | Enlightenment
June 12, 2.30pm, Greenway Chapel, Green Point
The Phoenix Collective returned to Green Point with a more conventional but nonetheless eclectic programme which was much appreciated by a local audience.
The performers entered the stage in turn, first the cellist Andrew Wilson who switched on an antique metronome as a backdrop for Sally Whitwell’s “Toward” written as an antidote for the Covid pandemic. The strict rhythmic form gives way to a happier episode entitled “Breathe” as the metronome is turned off. Rather geometric but very relaxing.
Mendelssohn was a great fan of Beethoven and in particular his late quartets which had been panned by most critics who didn’t understand them. Felix took the famous theme from Ludwig’s last quartet “Es Muss Sein “ – “It Must Be”, modelled a song “Is It True” on it and incorporated it in his first true quartet – no 2 in A minor – not only this but he used it in the beginning of the work and returned to it at the end of the finale – the first time this technique had been used but by no means the last. After this introduction, the first movement explores hidden depths before emerging into a dramatic ending.
A serene Adagio contains a fugue which is modelled on Beethoven’s Op 95 Quartet. The third movement “Intermezzo is really a gigue-like Scherzo in which the violin plays against a pizzicato bass either side of a “Perpetuum Mobile” Trio. A rollicking Presto featured not only the theme mentioned but also a violin Cadenza with Tremolo accompaniment also modelled on a section of the same Beethoven Quartet. Despite its attributions, this quartet stands out.
Few composers have had to put up with the restrictions and censure that Dimitri Shostakovich was forced to suffer. His Symphony no 9 was debunked by the Politburo as a satire on the recent World War and it was probably for this reason that he removed the titles he had given for the five movements of his favourite third string quartet. Happily, they have survived and are again included in programming. Certainly, the piece stands out as a deprecation of War in general.
The first movement, “Blithe ignorance of future cataclysm“ is optimistic though containing portents of events to come. “Rumblings of war” contains grating notes on the cello and ends abruptly. “Forces of war unleashed”, as expected, contains rapid discordant passages which hardly resolve. “Memory of the Dead” is a dirge in which high searching violin notes are played against a ground bass while “Why? and for what?” begins in a querulous way but comes to a violent end.
This was absorbing and challenging for the audience who appreciated the contrast of a short jig-like adaptation of “Shine you no more”, a song by renaissance composer John Dowland.
As usual, the Phoenix Quartet was faultless and really entered into the spirit of the varied programme while the introductions by Dan Russell helped immensely.
