Summary
Zehetmair Quartet Queen's Hall 5/5 There were just two works in this concert but it was no ordinary double-bill. Performing Bartok's Fifth String Quartet ahead of Schubert's valedictory masterpiece in G major was just one of the strokes of audacity which put it in a class of its own, and made you ponder why this was so and how it was done.
Apart from the acuteness of the playing, which made this an event to remember, the question it posed about running order was important. At one time it would have implied that the lyricism of the Schubert was the audience's reward for the abrasiveness of the Bartok. But this was not the case. The Bartok sounded warm, beautiful, not at all problematic, whereas the Schubert seemed disturbed and disturbing.See the full content of this document
Extract
Festival Reviews
It was not only the playing that achieved this but also, no doubt, our own attitudes to the music. Bartok, no longer a modern tormentor, forms part of musical...
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