Although the reputation of the quartet as a virtuoso undertaking precedes it, the Pacifica played it effortlessly, allowing the music to speak for itself through their clear notes and rhythmic enunciation. From the very first notes, it became clear that this was neither an ordinary work, nor a standard performance. Regaining their waning energy, they injected a surge of drama and emotion into the performance, lifting the piece into the realms of the interesting.Īfter a brief intermission, the quartet returned with what would come to be the highlight of the concert, Smetana’s Quartet. However, the quartet managed to rally themselves and ameliorate some of the bewilderment during the second half of the third and the majority of the fourth movement. While embarking upon the third movement, one could neither hear nor feel the point of the piece. There was a brief reprieve in the second movement when the melody took on a more conventional turn and became slightly more comprehensible. Throughout the first three movements, dynamics were not well executed and were poorly balanced the viola largely overshadowed the rest of the strings. Although the group played exceedingly well technically, they did not comprehensively narrate the piece. Unfortunately, there was a modicum of disappointment during the Janácek.
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This unity came through most strongly in a series of question-response phrases during the third movement that literally rippled through the quartet.Īfter the Schubert, the expectations for the rest of the concert were set high. It was as if each note were being played for the first time with every emotion and inflection organically rising from the group. Naturally, it is assumed that the quartet has played the Schubert piece on numerous occasions.
They seemed to be playing while encapsulated in an electric field that conveyed incipient changes to every performer. The players of the quartet appeared to possess the incredible ability to not only be aware of each other’s inflections in tone, emotion, and rhythm, but also to sense a change even before it occurred. Rather, they allowed the music to speak for itself and acted as the purveyors of the tune, as opposed to its interpreters. The Pacifica did not overplay the melody, or milk the tune for all of its emotional content. Beginning with the first notes of the Schubert, they exhibited a superb feel for the sense and sensibility of the piece. On the whole, the Pacifica’s performance of these three pieces was brilliant, although lagging in places. The beautiful and virtuosic Smetana had to be played at the end. Although putting the Smetana in the middle of the Schubert and the Janácek might have afforded less confusion, from an artistic standpoint the placement was perfect. Moreover, the inclusion of Smetana provided a rare look at the evolution of chamber music. 1 in E Minor provided the key to an otherwise confusing concert program it synthesized the two preceding polarities through its blend of the modern and the classical. It was nearly impossible to understand the first half of the concert as a single entity. Their near technical mastery of the jarring, atonal Janácek was formidable, but could not completely bridge the stylistic chasm between the two pieces and composers. 2, “Intimate Letters.” After the ensemble’s pastoral and euphonious adaptation of Schubert’s stately chaos, the Janácek came as a huge stylistic shift. They began with Schubert’s early String Quartet in E-flat Major, D.87, and then launched into the 20th century with Janácek’s String Quartet No. The Pacifica Quartet constructed a program that complemented their skill in terms of both breadth and expression.
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