RTE Vanbrugh String Quartet

{TABLE} Quartet in C minor, Op 18 No.4 ................ Beethoven Gorsse Fuge, Op. 133 .......................... Beethoven Quartet in E minor, Op. 59 No.2 .............. Beethoven {/TABLE} I FIND the Vanbrugh String Quartet most admirable when they seem to throw caution to the winds and sail into the storm with all colours flying, careless of hidden reef or swamping wave. In the final concert of their complete Beethoven Quartet Cycle, given in the NCH on Sunday, the centrepiece was the Grosse Fuge, once considered almost unplayable and still a challenge to any group. In its untamed ferocity and dense textures, it makes many a 29th century quartet seem positively bland. The Vanbrugh rose to the challenge with the most adventurous playing I have heard from them they nailed their colours to the mast and weathered the storm triumphantly.

After such a performance even Op 59 No.2 was an anticlimax though there was splendidly energised playing in the third movement with the Russian theme. The opening work, Op. 18 No.4, made a suitable introduction to the concert, its long first movement showed Beethoven at his most tuneful and the Van brugh made its benign mood irradiate the whole work.