Mississippi Studios:柔軟な雰囲気の弦楽四重奏演奏会 [音楽時評]
弦楽四重奏曲の演奏会は，とかくたいへん堅苦しいところがあります．それはいったい何故なのでしょう．私の考えでは，
(1)ベートーヴェンが，ハイドンが形成し，モーツアルトが発展させた形式を，たいへんがっしりした構成力で固めてしまった．
(2)日本の音楽ライター達が，何故か，弦楽四重奏曲が音楽形式のなかで簡潔，純粋さに満ちていることに，必要以上に心酔し，それへの憧憬を書きまくってしまった．
という2点が強い影響力を持ったと思います．
日本では弦楽四重奏曲が好きだというのが一種のステイタス・シンボルになってしまっているところがありますし，弦楽四重奏曲のプログラム解説はとりわけ悪文が重なって難解，不可解なのではないでしょうか．
どうも楽しい演奏会というモノを，弦楽四重奏の演奏会で経験することはごくごく希です．
ここでご紹介するのは，弦四重奏の演奏会で，珍しく informality を取り入れた例です．
The defining moment at Sunday evening's Chamber Music Northwest concert at Mississippi Studios came early, when the Jasper Quartet ended the first movement of Joseph Haydn's Op. 77, No. 1 with a flourish, and several audience members applauded. Typically, applause between movements gets dirty looks and eye-rolling from other listeners as the players wait for the awkward moment to pass, but this time, second violinist Sae Niwa took advantage of the break to say hello and introduce the quartet.
というのです．つまり第1楽章のあとに拍手が入ってしまったのですが，Ｓａｅ Ｎｉｗａ が巧に楽団の自己紹介を行ってフォローしたといいます．ちなみにSae Niwa さんは東京出身の日本人です．
This was the first, of CMNW's Protége Project Sunday concerts, and the incident was pretty much what they'd hoped for -- a loosening of classical music's strict protocols in venues that usually present less rigidly disciplined kinds of music.
プログラムも変わっていたようです．The program might have been standard chamber-music fare, but the format wasn't: Two movements from the Haydn were followed by three from Anton Webern's Five Movements for String Quartet, with ample introductory remarks, and then the final two movements of the Haydn. といいますから，format はかなり風変わりです．ただし，演奏者の十分な解説付きだったことを重視すべきです．
There's something to be said for the sit-down-and-shut-up style that became standard in classical music in the 19th century.
But there's likewise an upside to hearing great performances for 15 bucks in casual clothes, perhaps drink in hand, with the hum of life occasionally intruding -- a bit of noise from the bar, the murmur of the air-conditioning system, a whisper of traffic from outside.
The quartet -- Niwa plus violinist J Freivogel, violist Sam Quintal and cellist Rachel Henderson Freivogel -- suited the scene. their Schumann (the A Major Quartet) brimmed with intense feeling. The all-ages crowd of about a hundred listened to the latter raptly, without applauding between movements. At the end of the achingly beautiful third movement, which finished with an exquisite pianissimo, you could have heard a pin drop -- not because people were observing concert etiquette but because the music was just that compelling. と最後のシューマンのエンディングでは，その美しさ故に，しーんと静まりかえったといいますから，
The Jasper Quartet の演奏会は大きな成功だったというべきでしょう．
The Jasper String Quartet is named for Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, a place unmatched for its inherent and dramatic beauty – qualities integral to the Jasper’s belief in the power of string quartet performance. Its members come from St. Louis, MO (J), Tokyo, Japan (Sae), Fairbanks, AK (Sam) and Ann Arbor, MI (Rachel).
Classical music review: Chamber Music Northwest breaks from chamber music's rigid protocols to charm a laid-back audience at Mississippi Studios
Published: Monday, June 28, 2010, 4:00 PM Updated: Monday, June 28, 2010, 4:25 PM
The defining moment at Sunday evening's Chamber Music Northwest concert at Mississippi Studios came early, when the Jasper Quartet ended the first movement of Joseph Haydn's Op. 77, No. 1 with a flourish, and several audience members applauded. Typically, applause between movements gets dirty looks and eye-rolling from other listeners as the players wait for the awkward moment to pass, but this time, second violinist Sae Niwa took advantage of the break to say hello and introduce the quartet.
This was the first of CMNW's Protége Project Sunday concerts, and the incident was pretty much what they'd hoped for -- a loosening of classical music's strict protocols in venues that usually present less rigidly disciplined kinds of music.
The program might have been standard chamber-music fare, but the format wasn't: Two movements from the Haydn were followed by three from Anton Webern's Five Movements for String Quartet, with ample introductory remarks, and then the final two movements of the Haydn.
Seasoned listeners may have been put off by the intro-to-classical-music parts of the commentary -- "Who here has heard of sonata form?" "Does anyone know what pizzicato is?" -- but no one seemed to mind too much.
There's something to be said for the sit-down-and-shut-up style that became standard in classical music in the 19th century. A culture of attentive audiences incubated large-form, complex and highly integrated works, and acoustically pristine halls encouraged high standards of performance with minute, fine-tuned detail.
But there's likewise an upside to hearing great performances for 15 bucks in casual clothes, perhaps drink in hand, with the hum of life occasionally intruding -- a bit of noise from the bar, the murmur of the air-conditioning system, a whisper of traffic from outside.
The quartet -- Niwa plus violinist J Freivogel, violist Sam Quintal and cellist Rachel Henderson Freivogel -- suited the scene. Young, personable and easygoing, they also are hugely talented; their Haydn crackled with wit, and their Schumann (the A Major Quartet) brimmed with intense feeling. The all-ages crowd of about a hundred listened to the latter raptly, without applauding between movements. At the end of the achingly beautiful third movement, which finished with an exquisite pianissimo, you could have heard a pin drop -- not because people were observing concert etiquette but because the music was just that compelling.
Another moment before the concert revealed the Protégé Project's cross-cultural potential.
CMNW's Elizabeth Harcombe said she'd arrived to find tables set up for merchandise and told a member of the Mississippi Studios staff that there would be none.
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