The Dover Quartet’s (Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violin; Julianne Lee, viola, and Camden Shaw, cello) sold-out appearance at Rockport gave us a wide variety of extraordinary things. The audience expected musical perfection―and got it. But the foursome’s exquisite performances of Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Brahms were only part of the story at Shalin Liu Center on Sunday. Personnel matters generated equal interest.
Quite recently we heard that two of Dover’s members had decided to return to or join the orchestra world. Violist Julianne Lee wanted to resume her role as a Boston Symphony violinist after two years 120 concerts a year, and exhausting traveling. (Her first audition ever was for the BSO in her first year in graduate studies at NEC). First violinist Joel Link had been chosen to be the new concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra. The Quartet had been together 17 years with almost no change of players and all four were in a conundrum as to the future, if any, of the quartet. Finally, quite recently, they all decided to keep the quartet going with far fewer concerts. For those who love the Dover Quartet, this was great news. The concert took on extra poignancy as one of the group’s last appearances (as a renowned full-time quartet) before Julienne Lee would take up the violin again, at Tanglewood, and just before Joel Link became a concertmaster of a legendary ensemble.
The wonderful violist Roberto Diaz, President of Curtis, who engaged the Dover as Curtis Quartet in Residence was supposed to have joined them in a Brahms quintet, but he had just had a fall and hurt his finger. At the very last minute, violist Masumi Rostad replaced him; this was funny for two reasons. He had just played this piece with another quartet, and it was the second time he had to replace a violist (in the Ying Quartet) at Rockport. In the preconcert talk Artistic. Director Barry Shiffman admitted with gratitude that it was time to give Rostad, his “emergency savior,” a solo recital, and based on his viola playing in the Brahms, I think that’s a great idea.
The first half comprised Robert Schumann’s first string quartet (1842) as well as Tchaikovsky’s First Quartet (1871). The Dover had recorded a Grammy-nominated CD (Azica) of Schumann’s String Quartets and have toured with the first one recently. It was clear how they loved this piece—one of three string quartets Schumann composed during a monomaniacal burst of musical inspiration in seven weeks the summer of 1842. He had written that “the thought of the string quartet gives me pleasure… The piano is getting too constrictive for me. When composing, I often hear a lot of things that I can barely suggest.” To prepare, Schumann studied the quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. “I love Mozart dearly, but Beethoven I worship like a god,” Schumann admitted.
Schumann fervently admired Felix Mendelssohn, and in 1843, dedicated the string quartets to him. In a letter to his publisher, Schumann reflected after Mendelssohn’s premature death that the quartets had now taken on a special meaning to me. “I still regard them as the best works of my earlier period, and Mendelssohn often expressed a similar opinion to me.” The colorful program notes (by Keith Horner) describe this piece well: “The galloping Scherzo echoes the fleet-footed, mercurial scherzos of Mendelssohn… The luminous slow movement carries the noble character of a Beethoven Adagio. The finale then bursts in with a vigorous, scurrying theme, brimming with the exuberance of Schumann’s Spiring Symphony. This single, driving idea gathers momentum, propelling the quartet to a fiery conclusion.”
Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet, in D Major, Op. 11 achived an instant success, especially its beloved Andante cantabile, which was then arranged by violin virtuoso Leopold Auer and by Tchaikovsky himself for cello and orchestra. Six years after its composition, the composer was thrilled to see Leo Tolstoy with tears coursing down his face during this Andante cantabile. In 1888, after an all-Tchaikovsky concert in Leipzig, the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik called this most popular movement “a slumbering lily in the valley.” Tchaikovsky rued the singular success of his Andante cantabile, complaining “they don’t want to know anything else!”
The Dover executed this movement (along with everything on its program) with masterful technique, a gorgeous sound, and a compelling interpretation. The many solos throughout this concert, many for viola, came to us with unfaltering beauty.
Then the sublime Quintet No. 2, Op. 11 by Brahms, allegedly intended as sketches for a fifth symphony. Composing it eight years after his first quintet, he meant it (in 1890) to be his swan song, writing to his publisher that “With this letter you can certainly bid farewell to my music, because it is certainly time to sign off.” Around the same time, Brahms told a friend that he “had achieved enough; here I had before me a carefree old age and could enjoy it in peace.” But the following year he began writing his famed pieces for clarinet, after which he finally did call it quits.
Similarly to Mozart, Brahms liked adding a second viola to the texture of his quintets, and the two violists, and the other three players for that matter, all played exquisitely. Every exuberant and elegant moment of this quintet is pure Brahms, especially its cross accents and rhythmically playful hemiolas. The second movement features the violas, and its tunes could break your heart. The final movement erupts in wild, frolicking Hungarian folk dances, reminiscent of his 21 Hungarian Dances which sold so well for Brahms. The unbeatable closer left the audience responding with exuberance.