United States Tanglewood Festival 2024 [9] – Various: Danish String Quartet (Frederik Øland, Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen [violins], Asbjørn Nørgaard [viola], Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, Johannes Rostamo [cellos]). Seiji Ozawa Hall, Lenox, 1.8.2024. (CSa)
Schubert – Quintet in C for two violins, viola and two cellos, D.956
Thomas Adès – Wreath for Schubert for String Quintet
Schubert (arr. Sørensen) – Die Nebensonnen from Wintereisse
Almost 24 years ago, London’s National Gallery decided to mount an exhibition called Encounters: New Art from Old, in which a group of leading contemporary artists were invited to create an entirely new work in response to one of the world’s greatest collections of European paintings of the past. As part of a quest to increase awareness of the richness of the old works on permanent display, recent commissions were presented alongside the paintings which had inspired them. Thus, a canvas by Louise Bourgeois sat next to a seascape by J.M.W. Turner, an Anthony Caro sculpture was paired with a Renaissance masterpiece by Duccio, and a moving video by Bill Viola answered a static scene from Christ’s crucifixion by Hieronymus Bosch. In a similar way and for similar reasons the Danish String Quartet have, over the past four years, embarked on an innovative international commissioning project in which contemporary composers have been invited to respond to late major chamber works by Schubert. This has led to a series of performances by the group where the premiered new work is paired with its ‘doppelgänger’ – the Schubert quartet or quintet which provoked it. The so-called DOPPELGÄNGER series is something of a misnomer. The new works are hardly the ghostly doubles or fateful dead ringers that the name suggests. Rather they are modern day rejoinders to, or observations on great compositions of the past – unique but intimately related.
The Ozawa Hall programme by the quartet’s four vigorous young Danes and one honorary Finn comprised three works: Schubert’s great Quintet in C, D.956 for two violins, viola and one cello, Thomas Adès’s response entitled Wreath for Franz Schubert, and another arrangement for quintet –Die Nebensonnen – the penultimate song from Schubert’s Wintereisse.
The music critic and writer Richard Morrison recently observed that ‘much classical music is about confronting death…and accepting our own mortality’, and certainly mortality and imminent death was the prevailing theme in all three pieces. The Schubert Quintet, one of his greatest chamber works, was in all probability completed in September 1828, two months before he died, while death in Die Nebensonnen (or The Mock Suns) hovers menacingly over Schubert’s lonely traveller as he nears the end of his winter journey. As the title suggests, memories of death permeate Wreath for Franz Schubert and in Adès’s delicate, mystical one movement homage, one can detect an inconsolable sense of loss.
Despite the group’s comparative youth, these lanky Vikings share a collective perception and musical sensitivity beyond their years, enabling them to convey the programme’s underlying message with extraordinary insight. An unstuffy platform manner and gentle humour belie the fact that the quartet has established itself as one of the most exceptional chamber ensembles performing today. Although their playing style is based on a deep understanding of the European tradition, the players are opposed to the mainstream of traditional programming. In previous interviews they claim to have been freed from the heavy weight of Russian, Hungarian and Viennese performing legacies. Their approach to established repertoire is fresh and dynamic, with a fierce attention to detail, interpretative vigour and cohesion.
All these qualities and more were evidenced by an utterly sublime rendition of the C minor Quintet. After a few short introductory words of advice from violist Asbjørn Nørgaard directed at those unfamiliar with the work: ‘If you tell people you’ve heard it you’ll be cool’, the 50-minute journey began with a glisteningly clear, gloriously lyrical and dramatic opening Allegro, in which each instrumental line was perfectly articulated without sacrificing overall harmonic balance. Next came a serenely meditative Adagio blended with deep yearning and flashes of white-hot intensity. Lingering melancholy was instantly banished by the third movement, an ecstatic Scherzo, played with joyfully rustic abandon, while a robust final Allegretto led to a glittering quicksilver conclusion.
The promise of new art from old came after the interval with Adès’s Wreath followed by Schubert’s Die Nebensonnen arranged for string quintet by violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen. In Wreath, Adès investigates a single phrase from the quintet’s slow movement and in a series of variations, completely transforms it. The apparent simplicity of the piece masks the inherent difficulties it poses for musicians. Adès describes it as ‘a gradually unfolding “lifespan” of entwined “blooms”, in which the players are loosely coordinated, but within specific boundaries, so that no two performances are the same’. A first hearing revealed a delicately attenuated Schubertian soundworld, suggestive of rustling leaves and the unbroken ebb and flow of water, and beautifully woven together by an individually liberated yet tightly knit ensemble of master musicians.
In Die Nebensonnen, the four Danes, joined once again by cellist Johannes Rostamo recreated, briefly but vividly, the moment when the wanderer rejects life and resigns himself to darkness. It marks the tragic end of Schubert’s winter journey and was chosen to mark the end of the published programme. Wonderfully played, it was a sad but fitting conclusion to an evening in which the contemplation of mortality made one grateful to be alive. Nevertheless there was still time for an encore: Carl Nielsen’s Underlige Aftenlufte (or Fascinated Evening Air) arranged by the Danish String Quartet.
Chris Sallon
Featured Image: Danish String Quartet at the Tanglewood Festival 2024 © BSO / Hilary Scott