Summer Strings

An imaginative programme of chamber music was presented by the Los Quartet (Sandra Lascarro and Rachel Rowntree, violins, Alex Welch, viola and Verity Harding, cello) at St. James’s, Piccadilly, on 2 June as part of the ongoing season of ILAMS’ lunchtime concerts. This young quartet of highly talented and very well qualified young musicians have pooled their considerable experience to good effect. Their name, whilst having Hispanic connotations (in fact two of the members have played in Latin American orchestras) was taken from the William Blake poet of the imagination, and appropriately so as their interpretations show a strongly imaginative approach.

The quartet’s Latin credentials were immediately made clear as they opened (and closed) with tango’s by Piazzolla, Meditango and Tango for Four, the latter having been originally written for the Kronos Quartet. These pieces, full of the composer’s typical dissonances, string scraping and flourishes, were played idiomatically and underpinned by a steady rhythm. The musicians’ affinity with this music and joyful delivery drew an enthusiastic response from the audience.

Mendelssohn wrote his second numbered String Quartet, in A minor, op 13, in the late 1820’s and despite an obvious indebtedness to Beethoven, the work shows considerable maturity and individuality. It opens with a serene and searching first movement, followed by a graceful Intermezzo and concludes with a lively presto finale, although the closing pages are more reflective. The transparent textures were realised to good effect by the quartet who’s members showed great flair and imagination in their interplay. They breathed new life into this attractive work, which sounded new and fresh-minted, and particularly effective in the spacious acoustic of the church.

Written some 90 years later, around 1915, Villa-Lobos penned the first of his 17 String Quartets at a time when he was trying to establish himself, and was writing a considerable body of chamber music. Although the composer had not achieved artistic maturity with these early works, there is much that is interesting, not least because Villa-Lobos used his practical knowledge as a cellist most effectively, in the string writing. You can certainly hear the composers who influenced the young Villa-Lobos (Brahms looms large and we also get a glimpse of Grieg along the way) he was already developing the instrumental textures so typical of him in this quartet’s 6 short movements.  The music was delivered with great enthusiasm by the musicians who drew out the work’s strengths and more interesting facets, including quirky harmonies and rhythms, as well as characteristic sentimental long-breathed melodies in the slow movements. It was a thoroughly enjoyable performance and the group’s decision to play this neglected work was justified, which was endorsed by the audience. The sun was still shining as we left the church, but it seemed just that bit brighter!

Ray Picot