Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Third Night of Summer Evening Series

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 18 July 2023 17:52

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Da Ping Luo.

At Alice Tully Hall, on the evening of Sunday, July 16th, I had the privilege to attend an excellent concert presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center—the third in their wonderful Summer Evenings series—featuring the admirable Miró Quartet—which includes violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violist John Largess, and cellist Joshua Gindele—along with classical guitarist Jason Vieaux.

The program began strongly with an accomplished account of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s elegant “Dissonance” String Quartet, K. 465, from 1785. The opening Allegro is—after a solemn, Adagio introduction—effervescent, although it has some dramatic moments, while the ensuing Andante cantabile is enchanting and stately. The Menuetto is especially inventive and somewhat eccentric but with a more serious Trio section, and the dynamic Allegro molto finale is the most exuberant of the movements.

Also excellent was a striking version of Luigi Boccherini’s exquisite “Fandango” Quintet No. 4 in D major for Guitar and String Quartet. In her informative program notes, Kathryn Bacasmot writes that, “The Guitar Quintet No. 4, written in 1798, was part of a collection for a new patron of previously composed string quintets that Boccherini updated to include the guitar.” The initial Pastorale, like much of the piece, has echoes of the Baroque and possesses an elevated quality; it is followed by a quirkier and ingenious Allegro maestoso. A somber introduction precedes the Fandango finale—the most thrilling of the movements, delightfully featuring castanets.

The event concluded impressively with a memorable version of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s intriguing, strangely beautiful Quintet in F major for Guitar and Strings, Op. 143. Bacasmot again provides some useful background:

In 1950 [Andrés] Segovia approached Castelnuovo-Tedesco for a new work that would be performed for the Music Guild of Los Angeles. The F-major Guitar Quintet was written in just a few weeks, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco commented, “It is a melodious and serene work, partly neo-classic and partly neo-Romantic (like most of my works).”

The initial Allegro, vivo e schietto is energetic and affirmative and has some Impressionistic sonorities; it is succeeded by a song-like, elegiac and more inward slow movement in which the second theme is marked as a Souvenir d’Espagne. The unusual scherzo has a cheerful character with two, more lyrical Trios. The quintet closes excitingly, with an exceedingly charming habanera interlude.

The artists deservedly received enthusiastic applause.

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