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Maxwell String Quartet

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Review by Alistair Massey

At Saturday's concert in the fine acoustics of the Acorn Centre, the Maxwell String Quartet's theme was chamber music by composers who are famous for opera. This included rarely heard pieces by operatic giants Puccini and Verdi that provided a distinctive Italian and romantic atmosphere. The Maxwells are Enterprise Music Scotland's Residency Artists for 2011–2013, which supports musicians in the early stage of their careers. They were formed in 2010 from graduates of the Royal Academy of Music, Oxford University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Duncan Strachan (cello) explained that it had been a "boy's band" from Glasgow until recently, but now featured a young lady, Violeta Barreña, as their first violin, who lives in London. George Smith (2nd violin) and Ian Anderson (viola) completed the ensemble.

The concert opened with the optimistic Spring String Quartet in G major K.387 by Mozart, one of a set of six quartets that were dedicated to Haydn and were recognised in their day as "models of perfection". The Maxwells' playing was graceful and unforced as they allowed the musical architecture to reveal itself to the listener, superbly balanced and articulated. Duet passages between the two violins and viola and cello were savoured and reflected each other perfectly.

Puccini wrote his Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) as an elegy in memory of the Duke of Aosta in 1890. With its detached unison opening, flexible tempo and expressive melody it had some of the characteristics of a tango but the embrace was a melancholic one. The quartet exploited the sombre tone of the lower strings to fashion its yearning melody.

The second half of the concert opened with a complete contrast with the Chacony in G minor by Purcell, Z.730. A chacony is a set of variations on a repeated bass line — basing a piece on a "riff" or ostinato remains a popular form of music today. The quartet showed their mastery of expression and balance with Purcell's sparse but suggestive harmony. At one point he launches the theme into the violin parts to allow the lower instruments a share of the decoration.

As Duncan Strachan explained, the repetition of a theme was a technique used in a different way in the Memento by Scottish composer James MacMillan, which was written for an American friend who died in 1994. The theme is chopped up into morsels of sound and shared in succession by the instruments in a manner reminiscent of Gaelic psalm singing. The eerie use of harmonics on the stringed instruments delicately suggested a bare landscape and hinted at the lonely mood.

Verdi wrote his only string quartet in his sixtieth year, maybe proving the point that he was not just an operatic composer. His sensitivity about it is revealed by his insistence that it should not be published or heard again. However, it shows his skill in the classical traditions of harmony and counterpoint. There is one point where the music is unmistakeably operatic in the third movement when the cello takes on the guise of a heroic tenor, humbly accompanied by strummed chords from the other parts. The final movement is at a feverish pace that is definitely Italian, yet proves that he could write a fugue like the best of his fellow composers. Its virtuosic flourish was a suitable ending to a well-constructed and sumptuously performed concert. The Maxwell Quartet displayed a subtlety and maturity of interpretation that belied their youth.

The final concert of the season by Inverurie Music is a Gala Concert by Chamber Philharmonic Europe from Cologne in Inverurie Town Hall on Friday 29 March (Good Friday) at 8pm. See www.inveruriemusic.co.uk for details.

Photo by John Hearne

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