University of Virginia Library

String Quartet
Opens TEC Series

By Roy Bonavita

The Tuesday Evening Concert
Series enjoyed a magnificent
opening with the appearance at the
University of the Juilliard String
Quartet, a renowned group who
provided an evening that was as
interesting and engaging as it was
varied. The program opened with
Haydn's Quartet in G, opus 76, no.
1, from a number composed for
Count Erdody on Haydn's second
London visit. The Juilliard gave the
quartet an aggressive reading, and
what they occasionally lacked in
accuracy was more than
compensated for in exuberance.

Bela Bartok's Quartet no.6
comprised the second selection and
it was a moving performance. The
directness of Bartok's style in
contrast to the fundamental
simplicity of his harmony combines
perfectly in this quartet to dismiss
any arguments, and ones which are
still heard, that his music is ugly
and unappealing. The Juilliard
exhibited a beautifully schooled
sympathy for Bartok's melodious
line.

The highlight of the evening was
unquestionably the performance of
Beethoven's Quartet in C sharp
minor, Opus 131. Beethoven loved
to make music bend to his will and
he reveled in the battle between
musicians and the notes he wrote
for them. The assertiveness of his
style is nowhere more evident than
in the "late quartets." Beethoven
wrote the greatest music for the
string quartet, and the Juilliard left
an audience delightfully spellbound
by its performance of this
monumental work. The purity of
execution and style exhibited by
the players held the audience in a
pitch of involvement so intense that
it was almost a relief for the
performance to end. The
musicianship of the Juilliard
Quartet cannot be overemphasized.
They have no peer and nowhere is
this clearer than in their reading of
Beethoven; they are a perfect
match for the ingenuity, challenge
and style that is peculiar to
Beethoven's compositions. It was
an intensely musical evening.

A few words of congratulations to
the students of the University who
are involved in promoting the
Tuesday Evening Concert Series:
Cabell Hall was absolutely filled on
Tuesday and they deserve great
credit for promoting chamber
music at the University.