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| The Chaos String Quartet (©Andrej Crilc) |
Under
the auspices of the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Chaos String Quartet (Austria)
- violinists Susanne Schäffer and Eszter
Kruchió, violist Sara Marzadori and Bas Jongen (violoncello) - performed
at the American Colony Hotel (Jerusalem) on July 9th 2023. Seemingly contradictory, the quartet's
enigmatic name surely raises some questions (and perhaps a few eyebrows).
However, it is based on Italian theologian and
philosopher of religion Vito Mancuso's theory that "chaos plus
pathos equals logos", from which the four artists understand chaos as the “original form of all creative”, by which art,
science and philosophy can be joined in one artistic synthesis.
Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Tel Aviv,
Arno Mitterdorfer welcomed the audience to the event. He spoke of the American
Colony Hotel as a multicultural Jerusalem venue, as a suitable location for
such concerts. Referring to the Chaos String Quartet as "an excellent
shooting star", he promised those gathered in the ACH’s Pasha Room a
journey taking the listener from works of Classical repertoire to music of a
more contemporary European landscape.
Violinist Eszter Kruchió briefly explained the
works to be performed. The concert opened with W.A.Mozart's String Quartet No.1
in G major, K.80, the composer's first string quartet effort, composed at age
14 in a tavern when he was on a vacation in Lodi, Italy. The work is written in
the style of Italian chamber sonatas of the time, originally only comprising
the first three movements. The French Rondo (final) movement was added two
years later. From the very first sounds of the opening Adagio, one is
drawn into the vibrant, rounded and full-bodied signature sound of this
ensemble as the artists give expression to the work's charm, lyricism and interest,
its majestic moments, its playfulness and whimsy, in playing that was effortless and beautiful.
Then to a work of Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952),
considered one of the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the
20th century. Her works are presently enjoying rediscovery. Bosmans was already enjoying a well-established reputation in Dutch musical
life prior to World War II. As a pianist, she was affiliated with various
chamber music ensembles in Amsterdam; her works were performed under
such conductors as Willem Mengelberg, Ernest Ansermet and Pierre Monteux.
However, being half Jewish, she fell into disfavour with the Nazi occupiers,
who banned her from all public performances and she was forced to support herself
with underground house concerts. Henriëtte Bosmans' parents had influenced her
in the German Romantic style but her own musical bent took her in the direction
of French Impressionists in an ongoing quest to find her own independent
compositional language. Her String Quartet (1927), reflecting her sharply modernist bent, is an early product
of this experimentation. Performed at the Jerusalem
concert, it carries imprints of Debussy and Ravel, its polytonal, modal colouring,
its dissonant elements and moments of exotica providing the nuts and bolts for
the Chaos musicians' candid and intense reading of the work. As to the
melancholic theme of the Lento movement (introduced by Schäffer) followed by
the high-register 'cello utterance (Jongen), the artists provided reflective,
albeit eerie relief from the mostly robust, uncompromising message of the work, as its final movement bowed out with a series of glissandi.
The program at the American Colony Hotel also came
with a premiere - "Une étoile dansante" (A Dancing Star)
commissioned from Italian violinist/composer Diego Conti (b.1958). Typical
of Conti's idiom of freely incorporated styles, the short work takes the
players through a wide range of string-playing techniques - spiccato and con
legno bowing, flageolets and more - to create a vivid and varied canvas of
jagged gestures, of busy soundscapes, also intimate moments and heartfelt solos,
inviting the players to indulge in Conti's mix of the harmony of dissonances, of Classical harmony, and to dip into in their large palette of dynamics. Not to
be ignored is the fact that Conti came to his musical style via
progressive rock, after which he immersed himself in 20th-century concert
music, finally moving backwards through music history to study earlier styles.
Taking the work's host of demands on board, the instrumentalists led the
"dancing star" on a committed, impressive and vivid journey.
The quartet's final piece took audience and
players back to Vienna, the Chaos String Quartet's nerve centre. Stemming from
his first years in Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 18 needs little
introduction as his initial step into the Classical string quartet genre, this
opus being the only quartet contribution from his first period, the collection,
however, providing the listener with proof that the composer was already a
master of the form. The players' auspicious choice of the Op.18 No.3 Quartet in
D major gave the stage to their fresh, sincere playing and to their
comprehension of the work's delicate melodiousness and charm, as they
highlighted each gesture of the first three movements with spontaneity, a sense
of wellbeing and a touch of wistfulness. As to the Finale - galloping,
virtuosic and richly contrapuntal - they juxtaposed its technical demands with
its exuberance and (Haydnesque) wit as it exited with a teasing, quiet whisper.
We tend to hear many late Beethoven works on today’s concert platforms. The
artists’ performance of this quartet was a welcome reminder that the young
Beethoven had produced music that was brimming with energy and variety, youthful
optimism and passion, with invention and enthusiasm.
Remaining in Vienna, the quartet chose to perform
Bas Jongen's arrangement of a Schubert Lied - "Nacht und Träume"
(Night and Dreams), with Susanne Schäffer taking on the vocal line (text: Matthäus
von Collin). The result was enchanting as the artists created the song’s otherworldly
mood of night "floating down, Like your
moonlight through the expanses of space"
The evening's performance highlighted the exemplary
and polished performance of each of the young instrumentalists, also their
excellent teamwork. Add to these 1st violinist Susanne Schäffer's outstanding qualities of leadership and suave musicianship. Established in 2019, the Chaos
String Quartet is rapidly establishing itself on the international concert
scene. Winner of prestigious competitions, the quartet has been selected for
the New Austrian Sound of Music sponsorship program. This was the quartet’s
first concert tour of Israel.
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