Orlando String Quartet

{TABLE} Quartet in D Op 64 No 5 (Lark) Haydn 12 Microludes for String Quartet Op 13 ................................. Gyorgy Kurtag Quartet in D minor, D810 (Death and the Maiden) .......... Schubert {/TABLE} ON the eighth night of its current tour the players showed no sign of tiredness, indeed they played Schubert's Death and the Maiden Quartet with passionate vigour. This was a far cry from the clubbable composer of light hearted songs for male voice choir the music was lit by flashes of violence that would have been theatrical were it not for their sincerity. This was Schubert as a fore runner of German Expressionism and in some ways it sounded more modern than the Microludes of Gyorgy Kurtag (b.1926).

These tiny pieces were full of strange and fascinating sounds but each was over before its impact could be properly apprehended. They were like jewellery of the finest and most reticulate workmanship one felt that only through a watchmaker's eyeglass could the composer's skill be appreciated the skill of the instrumentalists was patent.

Haydn's Lark Quartet suggests, through its nickname, an inspired improvisation in free form. It is, of course, nothing of the sort, nevertheless I felt that in this particular work the tyranny of the bar line weighed too heavily on the players. The sense of fluidity that was apparent in the Kurtag and the Schubert was absent in this, perhaps because it was the first item in the concert. The Finale, however, marked Vivace, swept with unrestrained energy to its conclusion.