United States Various: Calidore String Quartet (Jeffrey Myers, Ryan Meehan [violins], Jeremy Berry [viola], Estelle Choi [cello]) and Quartet Integra (Kyoka Misawa, Rintaro Kikuno [violins], Itsuki Yamamoto [viola], Ye Un Park, [cello]). Thayer Hall, The Colburn School, Los Angeles. 15.11.2024. (LV)
Marsalis – from String Quartet No.1, At the Octoroon Balls (III. ‘Creole Contradanzas’, IV. ‘Many Gone’, V. ‘Hellbound Highball’)
John Williams – ‘With Malice Towards None’ from Lincoln
Korngold – String Sextet in D major, Op.10
Mendelssohn – String Octet in E-flat major, Op.20
The Calidore Quartet’s second concert of their weeklong residency at the Colburn School featured Korngold’s remarkably mature Sextet, written when the composer was seventeen, and Mendelssohn’s astonishing Octet, written when he was sixteen.
The Calidore and the Quartet Integra ensembles formed two sides of a triangle for the Octet, delivering a performance both gritty and exhilarating and not overly sentimental. The formation, however, while visually striking, implied something Mendelssohn had not intended – treating the work as a dialogue between two quartets rather than an integrated ensemble of eight individual voices. Music survived this logistical choice, and it resulted in a more democratic distribution of voices than the usual first-violin-dominated approach. The Calidore Quartet, young lions not so very long ago, showed particular joy in the collaboration, with cellist Estelle Choi beaming throughout.
Calidore first violinist Jeffrey Myers had led the Mendelssohn, and Kyoka Misawa, the Integra’s first violinist, took the reins for Korngold’s early String Sextet. Her colleagues had the lead roles alongside Calidore’s Choi and violist Jeremy Berry. The work proved more than just a training exercise for the lush style Korngold would bring to the three quartets the Calidore had played two nights before – his mature voice was already there.
In both works, the Integra players commanded attention. First violinist Misawa displayed perfect intonation, riveting timing and surges of passion that made the Korngold sound as if it had been written for her; in the Mendelssohn, she was immaculate in her smaller but pivotal supporting role. Second violinist Rintaro Kikuno demonstrated equally breathtaking technical command with elegant movements and sweeping bow strokes, and violist Itsuki Yamamoto produced both a huge, nut-brown sound and astonishing technique. Cellist Ye Un Park proved there was nothing she could not tackle and took off in the finale of the Mendelssohn as if daring the others to catch her. Though distinctly different in style, sound and stage presence, their collective artistry suggests they will be formidable contenders in future competitions.
The evening opened with the Calidore Quartet performing three movements from Wynton Marsalis’s At the Octoroon’s Ball and John Williams’s newly commissioned arrangement of his theme music for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. Both works were enthusiastically performed and received, but musically they remained peripheral to the evening’s more substantial offerings.
The concert’s intimate setting, the 189-seat Thayer Hall, a marvelous creation of angles and warmth, height and intimacy, is an ideal place to hear chamber music. While too small for concerts with wide public anticipation such as the Calidore’s earlier program of Korngold’s three string quartets, attending a performance in Thayer Hall offers a rare opportunity to experience music with the same kind of impact it has when listening on headphones or speakers.
Laurence Vittes