Alban Berg Quartet 2/29/2008

Alban Berg Quartet
Friday 2/29/2008
Mandel Hall, University of Chicago

Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ, op. 51
Berg: Lyric Suite
Schubert: String Quartet in G Major, op. 161

Here in 2008, it is becoming rapidly clear that we are knee-deep in the “new era,” and that the last vestiges of the “old era” are rapidly disappearing. This axiom could apply to many, if not all of the orbits we all encounter each day as part of the human race—but it applies, in my opinion, most gravely and solemnly to the world of string-playing and music-making. The Alban Berg Quartet is, literally, THE last vestige of an old style of playing, characterized by commitment to sound, honesty of expression, intentionality of phrasing, and what I would call a sensitivity to the three-dimensional nature of time. And now, at the end of their career, The Alban Berg Quartet (ABQ) made one last final trip to the United States, to give us one last look at what has come before us.

Having never heard the ABQ live before, I was thoroughly impressed. On a basic level, the matching, listening, and general sense of ensemble in the group was phenomenal. For example, the first note of the Haydn had an extremely soft, gentle beginning to it—the four of them snuck into the sound of that note at exactly the same rate, sound, color, and with a unified sense of character and balance. The exceptional thing was how this way of playing released the music that was on the page into the hall. What an extraordinary way to begin a program! That first note, and the many, many other detailed moments like it during the concert, are the kind of things in music that are very difficult to write or talk about. The only way to achieve mastery over such things as a quartet is to feel the music, the instrument, and each other in emotional, physical, and intuitive ways, respectively. This is so incredibly different from the dominant playing and training of today, which tends to focus on either intellect or intuition, expression or musicality, and technique or physicality. All of these elements converged in the music played by the ABQ to create an other-worldly experience for the listener. This was an experience marked by heartfelt clarity, and musical decorum, above all else.

One of the more impressive qualities of the ABQ, not related to their status as being from the “old era,” was their ability to sincerely sink into very different styles of sound as called for in the different styles of music that they played. The overall sound concept that the group had for each piece was radically different, as mandated by each composition. The contrast between the sound in the Berg and the Schubert was especially striking. The Berg called for a broad palette of extreme sounds—from the very quiet and airy, to the grotesquely forced and aggressive. The Schubert called for an equally broad palette of sounds, but within a much more limited sound world. The ABQ was therefore able to play the Berg with a variety of sharply contrasting sounds, while the Schubert was played with hundreds of very subtle color changes.

This approach to sound, as being mandated by the score, may be the entry point that the ABQ takes in getting to the heart of each piece. Because of this conceptualization of the role of sound in interpretation, each work appeared to have a discrete identity separate from the identity of the ABQ, and from the identity of the tradition and historical era from which each work came. The things that the ABQ did with phrasing and timing—i.e., the “music-making”—had more clarity than anyone could have hoped for in their wildest dreams, and all because of the sound concept within which each impulse was cushioned. This was accomplished in a unique way with each work performed.

What an honor and a joy to hear this group, for the last time, in live performance. There will of course always be recordings, but the tangible, visceral memory of witnessing and feeling the web that was spun that night by the Alban Berg Quartet will always stick in my memory.

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