On Monday 9th January 2006 the Endcliffe Orchestra organised a private chamber music concert featuring the McFarlane String Quartet (pictured). The purpose of the event was to provide an opportunity for members of the orchestra to observe a professional ensemble up close and in a relaxed and informal setting. Two major works were performed – Debussy’s String Quartet Op. 10 and Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59 No. 3 – followed by an encore featuring adaptations of songs from Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess’. The evening also included a short talk given by Chris Hoyle (‘cello) on ensemble playing.
Evaluation
Comments from members of the orchestra on the string quartet concert:
“This was a fantastic opportunity to see a professional string quartet up close. I really enjoyed the social event afterwards and the chance to speak with the musicians.”
Programme
Claude Debussy 1862-1918 String Quartet Op. 10
In his string quartet in G minor, Op.10 Debussy already displayed much of his original style of composing which he would perfect in his maturity. All the movements are basically constructed in the same manner, the music advancing by a piecing together of musical threads rather than by a dependence on modulation. Of course, Debussy never bothered with formal development, bold ideas just rising out so naturally against the background when their time comes.
The stormy start right from the first bar unfolds a complexity in the writing in which each instrument plays a totally different melodic line. The music then wanders off in a flight of fantasy and imagination, fluttering lines of rising and ebbing semi quavers in the violins. Disparate musical images are conjured up and follow one after another, but eventually the quartet meanders back to the opening statement fluently time and again. The Scherzo’s primary focus is on both the opening viola theme and a resounding pizzicato motif going along in parallel, but as before the music drifts out of scheme and, unlike the strong opening, concludes vaguely.
Debussy’s music is always sensuous, and in the String Quartet it manifests itself in the Andantino. Hushed sustained lines of music float in the air dreamily, until the viola picks it up and gives it a physical voice in the form of an ambiguous soliloquy. An intense outburst occurs in the climax before the excited music retreats to the dreamy tones again. The finale unites the Quartet by incorporating the opening motif and quoting from the Scherzo, all the while blending the ideas together with new material. Debussy opted for a grand-chord ending to this early composition instead of a misty trailing off which would have marked his later works.
Ludwig von Beethoven 1770-1827 String Quartet Op. 59 No. 3
Would it be going too far to suppose a connection between this extraordinary work and Beethoven’s advancing deafness? It is possible that the whole work is an account of his coming to terms with the tragedy. Nevertheless the work is astonishing in its coherence when its startling variety is considered; there are many subtle musical reasons for this but they may have been generated by a deeply unified resolution of emotional stresses.
Germane to the work as a whole is the chord of the diminished seventh (three minor thirds on top of each other). This is the most famously ambiguous chord in music – someone called it the Clapham Junction of music because you can go almost anywhere from it. It pervades the strange searching introduction, where it receives cryptically exhaustive treatment. It gives way to the very bright C major Allegro – but in that, too, we find the diminished seventh has a role. Notice the successive entries of the instruments at the recapitulation, on successive notes of the chord. The development has at its heart a magnificent repudiation of this chromaticism, the first two notes of the movement transformed into a mighty song of mountain air. But far from dispelling the mystery, it heightens it.
The A minor second movement is unique in Beethoven, who wrote nothing else like it. Like the introduction to the Quartet, it has a fixation, but on themes as well as harmony. In rhythm it is also obsessive and there is a fateful fascination about it. The design is also unusual, a sonata form with reversed recapitulation, making a point of the polar opposition of the tritone A and E flat (the diminished seventh consists of two overlapping tritones!).
After this the C major Minuet is a period of repose, a soothing influence, switching on normal light. It is beautifully composed, concealing the skill of its smooth counterpoint. The Trio is more lively and homophonic, in the key of F.
A link leads straight into the tumultuous finale, beginning with the fieriest fugato Beethoven had yet conceived. Defiance and energy are shot through the music from start to finish, in what is to date the greatest of Beethoven’s finales.
The McFarlane Quartet
CLARE McFARLANE first came to public attention when she won the string section of the BBC ‘Young Musician of the Year’ competition which was to be the first of many appearances on TV and Radio. For ten years Clare taught at Chethams School of Music and has given a number of important master-classes. She is frequently invited to adjudicate at various events including the BBC ‘Young Musician of the Year’ competition and at the Royal Academy of Music. Clare’s first love is chamber music. She has also appeared as a guest with groups such as the Sorrell String Quartet, the Pirasti Piano Trio, the Haffner Wind Ensemble, the Joachim Piano Trio and the Schubert Ensemble, with whom she recorded Korngold’s Suite for CD.
JULIA HANSON is widely regarded as one of Britain’s foremost chamber musicians. In addition to her work with the McFarlane String Quartet, she appears with a number of other ensembles including Psappha, the Goldberg Ensemble, and (formerly) the Chagall String Quartet with whom she recorded a series of masterclasses for Granada Television. She enjoys playing baroque violin with the English Concert, the Orchestra of the Golden Age and the Orchestra Revolutionaire et Romantique. Julia is a principal player with the Northern Chamber Orchestra and Manchester Camerata with whom she often performs concertos.
RICHARD WILLIAMSON has had a passion for chamber music ever since his student days at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music – his student string quartet giving the opening concert at one of the halls in the Sydney Opera House! He was a founder member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra before moving to England in 1976, where he gave a highly acclaimed solo debut recital in London’s Wigmore Hall. For some years he was a member of the Rasoumovsky String Quartet alongside his work as Principal Viola with the London Mozart Players and the City of London Sinfonia. Over the following years he often appeared as Guest Principal Viola with the English Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
CHRISTOPHER HOYLE studied with Alexander Baillie and subsequently at the Royal Northern College of Music with Raphael Sommer. He won various scholarships enabling him to continue studying with Paul Tortelier in France, with whom he appeared in his BBC televised masterclasses. Chris was part of the ‘Live Music Now!’ scheme and has given solo recitals nationwide. He performed Schnittke’s cello sonata to the composer as part of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Chris has always been involved in chamber music performance and he combines this with his regular work with the BBC Philharmonic. He enjoys teaching at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music.