For the final chamber music concert in this, Musica Viva’s 70th year, Brisbane welcomed the Modigliani Quartet to the Queensland Conservatorium.
To coincide with and complement the event, a French Fayre was held in the foyer, celebrating aspects of French cuisine, language and culture. This was charmingly accompanied by Chantefique, the choir of Alliance Française de Brisbane.
Quatuor Modigliani, to use their francophone title, was founded in Paris in 2003 by four close friends. Sadly, cellist François Kieffer recently injured his shoulder in a motorcycle accident, necessitating a change of line-up and some adjustments to the programme. Violinists Philippe Bernhard and Loïc Rio, and viola player Laurent Marfaing are joined for this tour by renowned French cellist Christophe Morin.
Musica Viva's 2016 season.
Although the chemistry between the original three members of the quartet was obvious during the performance, it is remarkable, given the very short notice, how seamlessly Christophe has been woven into the fabric of their style. This style is informal and relaxed, and yet still precise. With typical Gallic insouciance, they make complex musical forms seem effortless, like a relaxed session among friends who have gathered purely for the pleasure of playing.
Nowhere is this more evident than in their rendition of Schubert's String Quartet No.10. Their interpretation ‘literally’ transported us into a Jane Austen novel. In the collective subconscious of the audience, images of promenading in the grounds of Pemberley were rife! We half expected Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle to appear alongside them on stage, artfully engaged in witty repartée! This is surely no coincidence, as 'Pride & Prejudice' was published in 1813, the same year the piece is believed to have been written. Curiously, the music used in major screen adaptations of Austen has been either by contemporary composers, or from an earlier era — the Modigliani Quartet therefore swept aside half a century of dumbed down popular culture, and took us straight to the genuine article!
Photos from the Modigliani Quartet.Modigliani Quartet.
Broadcast live on ABC classic FM, the programme began with Haydn’s richly textured String Quartet No. 36, before moving onto the high drama of Beethoven’s String Quartet No.11, ‘Serioso’. The emphatic opening motif was handled with aplomb — we were swept along through the tumultuous highs, lows and moments of signature silence, culminating in the strangely positive dénouement. The late inclusion of Shostokovich’s first String Quartet allowed the viola to shine, and highlighted the beautifully modulated sound this instrument produces — an experience sadly all too rare in many String Quartet pieces. If their Schubert was evocative of Austen, the Modigliani Quartet’s Shostokovich was pure 1930’s cinema. Although redolent of the grand era of the silver screen, this piece is also intensely personal and reflective.
Cheers and delighted whoops from the audience resulted in an encore of something completely different — leaving their bows behind, and wearing amused smiles, the quartet further entertained the enthusiastic crowd with Leroy Anderson’s pizzicato piece, ‘Plink, Plank, Plunk!’ Mirroring the quartet’s deceptively easy going approach, this light-hearted piece ended the concert on a suitably relaxed high note.
Haydn – String Quartet No.36 in B-flat major, Op.50, No.1
Beethoven – String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95 ‘Serioso’
Schubert – String Quartet No.10 in E-flat major, Op. post 125, No.1 D87
Shostakovich – String Quartet No.1 in C major, Op.49
French language classes are available from Alliance Française de Brisbane!
