Concert Review: Belcea Quartet

Concert Review: Belcea Quartet

April 24, 2010, Washington Irving High School
Belcea Quartet
Beethoven/Szymanowski/Bartok

The marvelous Belcea Quartet were playing 2 programs in NYC, one in Lincoln Center, at a premium, and this one, at a price anyone can afford, with a definite early twentieth century tilt.

The Szymanowski No. 2 alone was more than worth the price of admission. If you are attuned to this composer's shimmering coloristic, and chromatic, world, you would have been in bliss, as I most definitely were. The impressionistic elements were conveyed with a deft and subtle touch, while the more rhythmic outbursts were delivered with a dynamism that was startling. Most importantly, juxtaposition of the shifting worlds was natural, unusally idomatic. The same applied to Bartok's No. 1, its length and polyglot stylistic elements negotiated with unfailing sureness. Opening the program was Beethoven's OP 18/6, played perhaps a little too seriously to align it with the twentieth century, not that the piece cannot withstand it. An equally serious Britten movement served as an encore.

The ensemble was stunning. Leader Corina Belcea-Fisher led with an iron-grip, her phrasing unfailingly musical, her tone varied and always beautiful, and her rhythmic sureness confident. There was not a weak link in ensemble. Second violin Laura Samuel miraculously blended seamlessly with both Belcea and violist Krzysztof Chorzelski, lending the inner voices a solid foundation. And the lower voices also blended seamlessly; sometimes I could not tell the viola from the cellist Antoine Lederlin. What astonishing accomplishment for such a young quartet.

The global level of string quartet playing in some ways has improved significantly. This quartet are at a very high level, almost approaching that of my favorite, the Artemis Quartet. England must be doing something right in chamber music. What a wonderful evening.

There's no yet a NYT review, but I came across coverage from an excellent Blog that I have cited before. It's good to know there are fellow souls who care!

I recommend their cheap and stunning Bartok cycle on EMI (pictured).