MOMENTS OF LYRICISM IN A PURELY RUSSIAN STORY
By CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM
In Shostakovich’s career, pockmarked with forced commissions, attempts to placate Soviet officials and humiliating bouts of censorship, his string quartets occupy a special place. Many critics have likened them to a confessional into which the composer confided the fears and hopes he had to suppress in public. But most of all, the 15 quartets represent the music Shostakovich wanted to write at a given moment.
IT'S YOUR OWN FUNERAL SHOSTAKOVICH
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Like a man writing his own obituary Dmitri Shostakovich composed his String Quartet No. 8 as a requiem for himself, weaving it together with an autobiographical motif consisting of the letters D-S-C-H.
Wigmore Hall, London, 16.2.2013
Jerusalem Quartet (Alexander Pavlovsky, Sergei Bressler (violins), Ori Kam (viola), Kyril Zlotnikov (cello)).
Wolf – Italian Serenade
Mozart – String Quartet no.22 in B-flat major, KV 589
Smetana – String Quartet no.1 in E minor, ‘From my life’
The Jerusalem Quartet’s latest visit to the Wigmore Hall opened with a sunny performance of Wolf’s Italian Serenade. Full of life, there was, as ever with this quartet, never the slightest hint of routine. Mediterranean sun was to be felt – especially welcome in February – but quite rightly, this was sunlight as remembered from northern Europe. Solo playing, first from Kyril Zlotnikov’s cello, then picked up by his colleagues, was as fine as the ensemble work.
Jerusalem Quartet with Alexander Melnikov
Assembly Rooms
The nondescriptly charcoal-suited members of the Jerusalem Quartet did not look like time travellers, unless it was as a visiting ensemble from East Germany, circa 1982. But appearances counted for nothing once the music started, and we were transported back to 1790 and Mozart’s String Quartet K589, the second of his three Prussian quartets.
There's a mathematical spinoff of a Zeno paradox that says you can never reach your destination. To get somewhere, you first must travel halfway to it, but from there you need to pass the midpoint of the remaining distance. You end up getting closer and closer, but never reaching the goal.
Sometimes an encore tells you everything about a band. That’s how it was in New Orleans on Wednesday, as the Jerusalem String Quartet closed a vibrant night of music making with the haunted slow movement from Debussy’s only quartet.
Come March 2013, the Jerusalem Quartet offers a complete cycle of Shostakovich’s 15 string quartets at Lincoln Center. Wednesday evening at Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor audiences got a small, but potent sample of the riches in store for New York when the Jerusalem Quartet opened the University Musical Society Chamber Series with two Shostakovich quartets.
Hooray for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society -- and everyone else who savors music-making of intimate magnetism. After too many years enduring the acoustical haze of Fairmount Temple Auditorium in Beachwood, the society this season has taken up residence in the crystal-clear sonic environment of Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights.
Alexander Melnikov (piano), Jerusalem Quartet (Harmonia Mundi)
...The Jerusalem Quartet, who last month won their third BBC Music magazine award for a recent Mozart recording, are at the peak of their career, still youthful yet playing with the wisdom of 20 years' experience. In the Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov they have a collaborator of rare musical intelligence as well as virtuosity. Another award contender? I guess so.
For this sublime disc the Jerusalem Quartet chooses one 'Italian' work, one 'Haydn' and one 'Prussian'. The playing in the three-movement early piece is alert and very beautiful: the wistful Andante is touchingly done, at a plausible tempo.
The first time I listened to this, I loved it; the second time, not so much. But the third time, I loved it again. I think I've collected all but one of the Jerusalem Quartet's recordings, and every one of them has only further confirmed my belief that this Israeli ensemble is, technically at least, on a par with the Emerson and two or three other top string quartets before the public today.
...The program opened with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Quartet in G major (op. 18, no. 2). This piece is heard every year courtesy of the Slee Beethoven Cycle at the University at Buffalo and, as a result, has a familiarity factor built into it for area chamber music fans.
Particularly impressive in this performance was the way the quartet handled the second movement adagio, setting up a silken contrast to the bounce of the third movement scherzo.
The Jerusalem String Quartet performed Sunday afternoon at the Society of the Four Arts In Palm Beach.
Few chamber ensembles produce the sheer beauty of tone of the Jerusalem String Quartet. The four young musicians, who performed Sunday at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, present a corporate tone that practically glistens, led by the seamless, honeyed playing of first violinist Alexander Pavlovsky.
Review: Jerusalem Quartet | Dallas Chamber Music | Caruth Auditorium
Dallas — In a superb lesson in how to accommodate different musical styles without losing a unique musical voice, the Jerusalem String Quartet journeyed through an elegant Mozart, a fevered Brahms, and a brash Shostakovich. Dallas Chamber Musicpresented the group at Southern Methodist University's Caruth Auditorium on Monday evening as part of their outstanding series, which has been stellar this year.
This fine quartet, formed in 1993 when the members were conservatory students in Jerusalem, has made a series of recordings for Harmonia Mundi, none better than a pair of discs of Shostakovich quartets. No surprise, then, that Shostakovich’s eighth quartet stood out on this program, too, for the vigor of the interpretation, which kept one on the edge of one’s seat, and the overall quality of playing from all four musicians in dazzling coordination.
Das ,Jerusalem Quartett' ist den Kammermusikfreunden im Konzerthaus noch in guter Erinnerung: Im Rahmen einer Zeitinsel spielte das Ensemble sämtliche Streichquartette von Dmitri Schostakowitsch. Auch am Freitag gab es ein Quartett des russischen Komponisten zu hören: Die Nr. 4, sein Opus 83, gestalteten die vier weltweit aktiven Künstler in einer beeindrucken Interpretation.
Wattens – Wie übermächtig Beethovens Schatten in den Komponierstuben nachfolgender Generationen noch stand, zeigt sich bis Johannes Brahms, der aus Scheu vor dem Streichquartett sich erst einmal – wie unverbindlich im Serenadenton – an Sextette heranmachte. Als er schließlich das Streichquartett erreichte, war Beethoven als Lehrmeister unverkennbar, der Schatten aber doch so weit verblasst, dass sich ein expressiver Bekenntniston Brahms’ entfalten konnte.
„Jerusalem Quartet“ eröffnet in Wattens
Es ist eine eingeschworene Fangemeinde, die sich Dienstag Abend zum Auftakt des 8. Kammermusikfestivals „Musik im Riesen“ in den Swarovski-Kristallwelten einfand. Bis Sonntag gilt das Augenmerk den Streichquartetten. Den Auftakt machte das renommierte „Jerusalem Quartet“ mit Johannes Brahms.
"Jerusalem Quartet Harmonia Mundi Mozart's string quartets do not divide quite as neatly into early, middle, and late periods as do Beethoven's. Nevertheless, the Jerusalem Quartet creates an instructive and highly enjoyable recording by choosing quartets widely spaced in the composer's career. The quartet play with a nicely blended sound and a keen appreciation for Mozart's lyricism and dramatic pacing, as much in the slow movement of the early quartet, K. 157, as in the late K. 589, a piece whose innovation is exceeded only by its compression. And the three finales move with a nimbleness that few groups can match."
— DAVID WEININGER, The Boston Globe March 6, 2011
Passion, precision, warmth, a gold blend: these are the trademarks of this excellent Israeli string quartet. And the repertoire, drawn from three different periods of Mozart's life, is marvellous. From the teenage triumph of K157 to the mature subtleties of K589, each example extends the genre's boundaries. Highlights? The finesse of phrasing in K458's minuet; the exquisite tone of the ensemble's cello (formerly played by the great Jacqueline du Pré); and the slow movements that reach ever deeper into Mozart's heart. (Harmonia Mundi; out now)
- Geoff Brown, The Times February 5, 2011
The Jerusalem Quartet adopts what you might call a full-on approach to Mozart. The tone is luscious and anything but vibrato shy. The speeds are unpressured, and the players like to convey the way their four lines mesh together, producing rich blends of sound, and capturing the internal frictions of passing moments in a way that makes the music come across as always eventful. Some listeners will doubtless find the manner a bit too measured, and perhaps a bit too rich, especially in the Quartet in C, K157, written sometime before the composer's 17th birthday. But the playing avoids the pitfall of sounding sweet and cloying. It's just painstakingly thorough, carrying the message that every moment can be made to count, that even the slightest detail can be engrossing. And in the two later works that pays rich dividends.
- Michael Dervan, Irish Times, 4 February 2011
Every deft switch of mood is caught to near-perfection "Their wonderfully full and vibrant sound is channelled through rhythms and phrasings that are crisp, tight-reined, and naturally flowing. Every deft switch of mood is caught to near-perfection, especially in those roguish Presto finales. And the slow movements have a dry-eyed warmth of expression that sounds just right."
The Jerusalem Quartet's latest recording of Haydn Quartets is an absolute triumph. Their playing has everything you could possibly wish for. Miraculously honed intonation and perfect ensemble is matched troughout by an innate understanding of Haydn's mercurial and immensely varied musical language. A veiled sence of melancholy hangs over the opening movement of the F minor Quartet, the interpretation is emphasising its sombre nature and its unexpectedly adventurous modulation. The fugal Finale, on the other hand, is all nervous energy, articulated with tremendous rhythmic verve.
The Jerusalem is one of the most exciting string quartets to emerge for many years, its members' outstanding technical accomplishment and musical insight belying their youth.
...what distinguishes this particular quartet is its sense of refinement and natural feeling for line, coupled with a fever-pitch intensity and commitment to the music. Musical electricity may be unfathomable, but one thing is for sure - they have it.
- The Strad, Jun 26 2009
If Haydn himself were able to listen to his celebration this year, he would undoubtedly be thrilled with the Jerusalem Quartet`s readings of his music. This ensemble performs as one mind, yet within its unity of purpose the individual strands are allowed to weave their way into the narrative.
All of them only in their early 20s, one can only imagine how far they'll go. It was as fine a night of string quartet playing as I've heard in a long time. Normally it takes years and years to develop such a blend of voices and such a spectrum of colours. They have loads of energy and passion and the control, finesse and sophistication to go with it.
Vancouver Sun, Apr 17 2009
As part of Wigmore Hall's Haydn celebrations, on Tuesday the Jerusalem Quartet played four of his 68 quartets, including the early, melancholy Op 20 No 5 in F minor and the ravishing, expansive Op 77 No 1 in G major. To describe exactly how these players achieved such mesmerising results - an imaginative use of raw, unison down-bows in the trio of Op 74 No 3, "The Rider"; the impeccable phrasing and intonation displayed across the group - risks getting into the realms of comparing fetlocks or crankshafts.
The Jerusalem Quartet has won many fans in Australia during its residency with Musica Viva and it's easy to see why. These four young men - Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler on violin, Amichai Grosz on viola and Kyril Zlotnikov on cello - have been playing together for almost half their lives.
Seat prices may have been high for the Jerusalem Quartet in the Glenroy Auditorium but it was worth every dollar to hear such a superb group.
A few bars into Smetana's From my Life Quartet, it was clear this was an event, the likes of which could not be equalled in Wigmore Hall or the Lincoln Centre. String quartets do not come any better than the Jerusalem.
String quartet fatigue is bound to set in this time of the season. So far, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society has brought in 12, all quite reputable and some truly exceptional. Overlooking the Philadelphia debut of the Jerusalem Quartet on Monday would have been easy but unfortunate, since this extraordinary foursome arrived at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater in a zone of its own.
Its most immediately striking quality is the vibrancy, flexibility and homogeneity of its sound: the first violinist's tone in particular is extraordinarily beautiful and intense. The players are technically extremely good, their ensemble is flawless and they can weave a seamless tapestry of lines and voices. Everything they do is carefully planned and worked out to the last detail, but they have succeeded in balancing perfect control with passionate involvement, youthful exuberance, and spontaneous expressiveness - a rare feat that gives their playing a feeling of total security as well as a powerful emotional impact.
- Andante
The best-trained string players with Alexander Pavlovsky, who had a particularly colourful sound, correspond with each other with instinctive sureness.It was magical playing, which also caressed the soul and made this a very pleasant evening concert.
What variety of colour the Jerusalem Quartet brought, characterfully underplaying the music; the cellist Kyril Zlotnikov was mesmerising
With great lustre and control, these were near-definitive performances ... the Jerusalem Quartet's performances are even more magnificent this time
absolute assurance by these young players, their confident attack and nigh-on flawless ensemble playing, impressive throughout its substantial span
The Jerusalem Quartet, one of the world's finest young chamber ensembles ... The group's splendid musical rapport, shining tone and bold phrasing were distinctive
the Jerusalem Quartet's tensile energy and concentrated intensity made for spirited and often riveting music making
for the young Jerusalem Quartet, whose concert in Sayville Saturday night offered proof positive that this foursome might be a breakthrough group The Jerusalem is good - really good.
My personal favourite among the four (quartets) for their impeccable blend, and the wonderful tone of the leader, Alexander Pavlovsky, which is best described as a fiery sweetness.Since they formed at the Jerusalem Music Centre in 1993 their career has been a triumphal ascent.
My personal favourite among the four (quartets) for their impeccable blend, and the wonderful tone of the leader, Alexander Pavlovsky, which is best described as a fiery sweetness.Since they formed at the Jerusalem Music Centre in 1993 their career has been a triumphal ascent.
Whenever Shostakovich gives these fine players a chance to sing, they touch the heart in this music as very few before
