Shanghai Quartet

After a performance like the one I heard last night, it’s tempting to write the word perfect in bold characters and go off to review something else. I’ll nevertheless give this a shot.

The Shanghai Quartet was not perfect: the first violinist had a flat note in the second movement of the Beethoven 6^th Quartet. Aside from that, it suffices to say that these guys are amongst the best in the business, and it showed.

There was something quite marvellous about their sound. Not just the intonation - so perfect it buzzed in the listener’s ear - but an amazing togetherness that most chamber groups never really achieve. Competent professional musicians play in time and in tune. But in a quartet, probably the most exposed musical formation, it’s nearly always possible to hear small pitch variations and slight rhythm discrepancies, usually between the base line and the melody. Not last night. These musicians played with a pitch so centered and a rhythm so cohesive that it really did sound at times like a single instrument.

The programme was wonderfully selected: a perfect blend of classical, romantic and modern music from Vienna, Hamburg and Shanghai! Of the three works performed, I probably preferred Beethoven’s 6^th Quartet, though the Brahms 2^nd Quartet was the best executed and From the Path of Beauty was by far the most interesting piece. I must say that it was great to hear a modern work that was both innovative and accessible to a non-expert audience (like me!). The fact that it was composed in the Quartet’s home town (which I recently visited with my violin choir!!) made it seem like a more personal choice.

Before I log off, I’d like to give special kudos to the second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. He was not only perfectly integrated to the melodic line, but also responsible for giving the music such a pleasant movement and flow. Second violinists have the hardest job in the quartet and rarely get the credit they deserve. Bravo to Yi-Wen and bravo to the Shanghai Quartet.