One component of the Lucerne Festival is its “Debut Series”, where young artists get a chance to give a lunchtime recital in the Lukaskirche. The 2018 summer festival includes seven such debut recitals. This review is about No.6 of these concerts. Most of these are either piano or duo recitals (violin or cello with piano). See here for an overview over all past debut series recitals in this venue, which I have written about.
These members formed the Rolston Quartet in 2013, at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Their career breakthrough was in 2016, when they won prestigious prizes at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition, as well as at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. In 2018, they also were the recipients of the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America.
The ensemble played in a narrow semi-circle, violins — cello — viola. They all used tablet computers rather than sheet music on paper. This allowed for a relatively narrow seating arrangement, hence excellent mutual contact.
The venue was filled only to around 60 – 70%: are string quartets considered too esoteric, “too absolute”, too abstract? Or is it that the artists don’t have a big, well-recognized name just yet?
As already in the Debut Series concert on 2018-09-04, I had a left side stall seat in row 9, with good view onto the artists.
I have recently heard this composition in live performances—see my earlier report on the concerts on 2018-04-22 (Lugano) and on 2015-05-15 (Bern).
The (important) first impression: good sonority in general (more on that later). Clearly, Luri Lee at the first violin was leading. She and the cellist, Jonathan Lo, seemed the most open, the most interactive personalities while playing. There was a lot of visual interaction among the quartet members, everybody was playing with engagement, with attention, with professional attitude, throughout the concert. I also noted the ensemble’s excellent control of dynamics and balance. Where there was a solo with accompaniment, the artists diligently, finely adjusted the volume, the balance, such that the lead voice maintained presence, without dominating excessively.
I had one reservation: there was often a certain tendency towards “belly notes” (swelling in the middle of a note), or also Nachdrücken (unwanted bow acceleration towards the end of a note). The latter was less prominent or even absent with the viola. It could be that Hezekiah Leung as a tall person used more bow in general, didn’t have any need to rush towards the end of a bow? I see Nachdrücken as a bad habit in general. I also usually see belly notes as undesirable, except for some specific situations (e.g., long key notes in a phrase), where this may be done on purpose, desirable, or even specifically what the composer asked for. My personal preference is with a (slightly) percussive articulation.
Emphatic and expressive playing. It was here that I first noted belly notes and Nachdrücken. The second theme is one which would have profited from a more percussive articulation. The combination of “cloudy articulation” with the amount of reverberation in this venue affected the clarity.
Nice: the limited, selective vibrato in the cello melody, in the introduction (Très modéré)! And I noted the excellent, firm intonation of the standing chords. The occasional portamento in the violin is definitely OK here.
Articulated with broad, swaying portato, again unfortunately with some tendency towards Nachdrücken. At least at the beginning, the first violin and the viola appeared to hold the prominent roles. Very nice: the subtle pp at bar 10, in the second pass of the initial theme. With the waves of semiquaver lines, the music evolved into a filigree web of voices. Tchaikovsky’s tempo changes appeared natural, the ensemble’s dramatic and tempo concept conclusive.
Excellent intonation, especially with the first violin. To me, the strength vibrato reached, but seldom / never exceeded the comfort limits. The ensemble was very careful and conscious in overall dynamics, as well as in the sound balance. I really enjoyed the “Russian chorale” in the accompaniment. It almost felt like memories from orthodox church music!
Very emphatic articulation in the Scherzo, lots of verve in the syncopes: an interesting mix of melancholy and joyful, expressive playing. Some of the semiquaver passages lacked clarity. However, that was at least in parts due to the acoustics.
♭ movement starts harmless, with a joyful fold tune. Things change, however, when semiquaver motifs start accumulating, the dynamics get more lively, more expressive, even dramatic: it’s quite a virtuosic movement, requiring excellent coordination and timing, such as in those short staccato semiquaver interjections. The Rolston String Quartet mastered this very well, in a lively performance full of momentum.
Let me add some spotty remarks (from my notes) on how the movement sounded: there is a viola cantilena around bar 92ff, which had very nice sonority. Sadly, the repeat of the exposition was omitted, presumably for reasons of time. It definitely was a technically excellent performance, with high agility and very good dynamic control. At the two climaxes, the music sounded as motoric and dense as passages from the famous Octet in E♭ major, op.20, by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 – 1847)!
The outburst of the final coda had the audience erupt into fanatic applause. Hezekiah Leung announced the encore: from Tchaikovsky’s Children’s Album (Детский альбом, 24 simple pieces à la Schumann), op.39, TH 141 (a composition from 1878), the No.1, “Morning Prayer” (Утренная молитва; Andante, G major, 24 bars). That’s a calm, solemn, serene (and very touching) piece. It’s not even 2 minutes, but such an excellent fit and ending to the program (despite its entirely different character and atmosphere): I couldn’t think of anything better—thanks and congratulations!
The encore ended this quartet recital by an ensemble of promising young artists. They convinced not just through their playing, but also through their professional appearance and attitude: natural, self-assured, but not pretentious!