The Newcastle International Chamber Music Series has hosted a string of pleasant surprises so far this season; a trend kept alive by the Merel Quartet, which treated an audience to a mix of the more traditional and the eclectic.
Proceedings at Newcastle University's King's Hall began with a spirited reading of Schumann's String Quartet No 1. The benchmark for this work was set by Northern Sinfonia's Thomas Zehetmair in his Gramophone award-winning album last year. It would be unfair to draw comparisons, but the Merel Quartet rose amply to the occasion, giving a visceral reading with some gutsy stringwork.
The audience was taken into new territory with Bartok's String Quartet No 3, which is a test of every facet of string technique. The quartet plunged headlong into the challenging score, providing a cogent and thought-provoking account.
Kurtag's String Quartet Opus 28, with its fragmented series of melodies, took listeners further into the realms of the unexpected. The evening was wrapped up with a stirring performance of more familiar fare in the shape of Mozart's String Quartet in F, K590.
Published: 04/12/2004
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