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Max Mueller Bhavan, the Goethe Institut and the Calcutta School of Music presented a programme of music performed by the Signum Quartett on September 12 at St. John’s Church. Sadly, owing to the demise of his father, the cellist, Thomas Schmitz, had to fly home. The violinists, Kerstin Dill and Annette Walther, and the violist, Simon Tandree, changed the programme to duos and trios from the Baroque to the modern repertory.
The surprisingly unchronological programme — Mozart, Bartók, Mozart, Leclaire and Dvorák — was refreshing. Mozart’s Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major (1783) was played by Dill and Tandree. It makes one realize that the beauty that flowed from Mozart’s pen was not born of cold calculation, but was the outpouring of an inspired genius. Walther joined Dill in Bartňk’s 8 duos for violin from the 44 duos of 1931. These consisted of little cameos created in the adventurous spirit of emerging tonalities, close dissonances and irregular rhythms together with impressions of Bartňk’s native folk songs. The second Mozart Duo for Violin and Viola in B major (1783), consisting of three movements (Adagio/allegro, Andante cantabile and Thema con variazioni), played by Walther and Tandree, ended the first part of the programme.
After the short interval, the Sonata No. 4 by Jean Marie Leclaire, consisting of an Allegro assai, an Aria and a Gigue, brought in the elegant courtly music of 18th-century France. The contrasting movements and the not-too-vigorous Gigue were played with a perfect rapport between the musicians. Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904), whose variety of pictorial impressions, influenced by his cultural forays into England and America, retained the strong element of his Czech roots, composed some enigmatic and delectable miniatures for strings and piano. The Terzetto for two violins and viola consisted of four movements — Introduzione, Larghetto, Scherzo vivace and Thema con variazioni — all met the demands of professional virtuosity. How, one asks, did the Signum players master such an incredible selection at such short notice? |
