The Jerusalem string quartet and the Daedalus string quartet have both passed through Brussels in the last couple of weeks. Their performances contrasted sharply and got me thinking a little as to why.
The programme itself naturally plays a role and the better I know a work, the more I can enjoy it. However, given there were three works played at each concert and in each case I only really knew one of them – Smetana’s quartet no. 1 played by the Jerusalem quartet and Sibelius’s "Voces intimae" by the Daedalus quartet – then that doesn’t explain my different reactions.
Nor can it be put down to the venue or acoustic as both performances were at the Brussels conservatory. Nor the individual players’ abilities as at their level it isn’t a matter of notes or technique.
The difference was that the Jerusalem quartet had something special, that little extra, which prompted physical responses in me the listener. Their music made me smile, almost laugh, as they surprised me with how they played a passage, gave me goose bumps as they created a special atmosphere and made me close my eyes to listen to a quiet conversation between the four string voices.
The Brahms clarinet quintet was also a delight and was as if four string-playing brothers had invited a close clarinettist cousin to join them on stage: they had different personalities and yet together most definitely formed a rich whole.
In contrast, I just didn’t discover the Daedalus quartet’s personality. I didn’t get the sense that it was one family with a homogenous sound and quality. Mind you, at one point in their programme, that was clearly not their aim. In the second movement - entitled “Arguments” - of Ives’s quartet no. 2, the second violin made his point by standing up and stamping his foot. The audience simply looked bewildered.
Interestingly, the Daedalus quartet switched first and second violinists between the works. Somehow that just enhanced the feeling that the players hadn’t yet defined their roles in the quartet.
It’s always enjoyable to listen to live performances, but if I get a little extra, a little magic, then it quite literally puts a smile on my face.
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