THE REVIEWS
From Piers Hellawell The second of the Kyle Quartet Beethoven Cycle at Finsbay's Mission House Studio showed, yet again, the capacity of Harris to transcend its rocky shores and astonish those of us who think we know our island. To have one of the summits of Western culture presented, at the highest level, yards from the shoreline in a building rich in stillness and among the beautiful artefacts of Nickolai Globe and partner Beka Globe, is dangerously close to a sort of heaven - to have and eat all our cakes at once. There are obvious practical reasons, but no greater ones, why these islands should not have their share of great performance arts, and these have been surmounted triumphantly by Kyle String Quartet and The Mission House Studio and with such guile and charm that one wonders why it has not happened before... of course there have been, for long-term residents, performance occasions in Rodel Church and even in private houses here - but one senses that this team means business, and business with proceeds in aid of important Charities to boot. Any live string quartet performance of Beethoven is a battle zone, since strife and resolution is the discourse of the classical style: it was his achievement in the early 19th Century to elevate the quartet's four 'voices' to a plane where they vie, remonstrate, hurtle off at tangents and, just as suddenly, merge like lovers. For this very reason, to witness a fine quartet performance in an intimate venue can be dangerously like being a guest uncomfortably caught in a family row at a dinner party; art is not meant to be comfortable. So often, though, the collateral damage of this is fractured ensemble and dodgy tuning, for the medium of the quartet is exposed like no other in music, except solo singing: there is nowhere to hide, since 'playing safe' is fatal to the music's drama - yet to join battle is to court musical injury as the fur flies. The amazing technique of the Kyle players, however, held the line even in its sternest test, the scherzo of Beethoven's most experimental creation, the Quartet in C sharp minor op. 131. This scherzo, whose astringent world once led a fellow listener to describe it as 'music in its underpants', is not only headlong and intricate but comes late in the evening when arms are sore and brains aching from concentration; it was here that the world class of Jackie Shave and friends showed, in the unfailing accuracy of the interlocking, fragmentary phrases and the barked contradictions shouted between higher and lower instruments - always clean, the underlying pulse maintained, the notes articulated. I have winced at scrappy moments in broadcasts of this music from celebrated Quartets, yet here intensity and physical control drew a glorious draw. To highlight this is not to detract from huge reserves of controlled tenderness that this performance also revealed, especially in the celestial opening movement - such stillness demanding no less control than the athletic stuff, of course. The Finsbay cycle follows usual practice in programming on each occasion a mix from Beethoven's youthful, mature and 'late' groups of quartets. This can back-light these works in the guise of long journey, from the world of Papa Haydn to Planet Beethoven, closer to the nightmares of Goya or ETA Hoffmann than of Viennese bourgeoisie. The Kyle way by contrast was to illuminate the similarity of these works, which after all encompass less than 30 years of a career; Stravinsky from 1911 and from 1961 still sounds like the same Stravinsky, and we perhaps overlook the unanimity of Beethoven's voice when falling into the glib division into his 'periods'. The Quartet in F op. 18 no 1 thus struck me, in this trenchant rendition, as pointing right down the main road to Beethoven's 1820s landmarks; the performance highlighted the abrupt, the confrontational, the turbulent in this musical life-force that were evident later, and thus led the more naturally to the Quartet in Eb op. 74, a mature work of enchantment and passion. The 'Harp' Quartet is heard too infrequently despite the allure of its nickname; the eponymous plunkings of its first movement popped out in the intimate acoustic, while the ornate richness of the searching slow movement appropriated in my mind to chamber music an old saying of Bunk Johnson about jazz: "It comes from the heart - you don't lie." The provision of readings from the composer's heart-rending letters about his deafness was discreet, well chosen and beautifully delivered by Gavin Wright. The intimacy was such that older listeners at the back might welcome a bit more volume - but this was not an occasion for sound systems, except for that soundest of systems, the quartet of strings, used by Beethoven. The unanimity and technique that delivered these works are not innate but learned and honed, the fruits of days of shared preparation - as evidenced by several moments during the evening of breathless quiet, unanimity and good intonation that mark only the best quartet playing. We should be grateful but not surprised, since the richest of experiences find a good home here in Harris, if anywhere, in our fracturing world. The next concert is on 8th July. © Piers Hellawell 2011
And From Catherine Eunson Music lovers might be wise to allow an hour for the drive south from Tarbert to Finsbay, where the Mission House Studio stands, one of three artists' studios in this part of Harris. The road is slow and winding and its sheep will not adjust their andante to any attempt at allegro assai. Why rush anyway? The concert series, 'Beethoven without Bounds' will present over 6 concerts (of which there are 4 left) all the string quartets written by one of the giants of western classical music. Perhaps a need, therefore, to adjust timetables so as not to miss the sort of musical opportunity usually associated with the Edinburgh International Festival. But EIF programmers could only dream of venues as characterful as the Mission House Studio, with its natural setting and stone walls reflected in the earthy sonority of Nickolai Globe's ceramics and the life-affirming black and white drama of his wife Becka's photography. In this cultivated space the Kyle Quartet, (Jackie and Kathie Shave, Tom Hankey and Robert Irvine) present the Beethoven string quartets, and the audience can catch the eye contact, feel the players' connection, and clearly hear nuances of bowing not so apparent in larger halls. This is Beethoven direct and intimate, with well chosen spoken introductions and excerpts from his letters bringing home the tragic life story. We know the facts so well - how Beethoven gradually went totally deaf, yet still composed triumphant music - that it is easy to forget the price he had to pay, and how enormous was his sense of personal loss. The contrast between Op 18 no 2 and Op 95, 'Il Serioso' in the first concert showed this in the starkest of terms. There is a way of playing classical music which can seem self conscious by prioritising a beautiful, golden tone, like old fashioned Shakespearean actors declaiming their lines in grand voices. This is emphatically not what we hear from the Kyle Quartet. Instead the sound is often silvery and subtle, with moments of pianissimo as secret as a whisper, as well as dominating virtuosity completely filling the space. They play it like they mean it. The level of reciprocal understanding so apparent is doubtless due in part to the players' history. Cellist Robert Irvine (Senior Professor of Chamber Music at RSAMD) and first violin Jackie Shave (leader of the Britten Sinfonia) have been friends for years and, with Jackie's sister Kathie and Tom Hankey they have marvellously responsive and skilful companions. The story of how the Kyle Quartet came together to Finsbay is fascinating in its serendipity and best described on the Mission House Studio website where tickets for the July and September concerts can be purchased. The twinkling ceramic bowls wait for the next time they will be filled with waves of music and I for one cannot wait.
Catherine Eunson April 2011. |
