From Salt Lake Tribune

Many believe Beethoven's crowning achievement was not his nine symphonies or five piano concertos but his incomparable string quartets. The Shanghai String Quartet made a compelling case for that argument Tuesday night. Violinists Weigang Li and Yi-Wen Jiang, violist Honggang Li (Weigang's brother) and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras performed three quartets spanning 28 years. They revealed not only Beethoven's penchant for breaking compositional convention but a binding tie to revered predecessors Bach, Haydn and Mozart. The sunny opening work, Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1, consisted of a single rhythmic motif - much like his Fifth Symphony's first movement. The ensemble captured the composer's stylistic intent, producing passionate Sturm und Drang without dredging up scratchy ugliness. The group also performed the Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95, "Serioso," and a pastoral encore, "Shepherd's Song," an exquisite Chinese folk song arranged by Jiang that underscored the Shanghai's unequaled tonal sweetness and lyricism. But the concert's major work was Beethoven's Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131. When pressed, the composer admitted this was his greatest creation in the genre. The unconventional work contains seven movements (instead of the traditional four), played without interruption, and begins with a slow fugue. A warmth enveloped the audience during the work's memorable Andante, as the ensemble patiently built the musical structure phrase by phrase. It was followed by a Presto showing the composer's egalitarian writing as quartet members passed brief melodies and percussive pizzicato from one to another. The fifth and seventh movements were bridged by a brief Adagio. The performers' passionate reading of the finale allowed an intimate glimpse into Beethoven's reconciliation with fate. Less than a year after completing his Opus 131, the iconic composer was dead. Shanghai String Quartet: Left, Honggang Li, Nicholas Tzavaras, Yi-Wen Jiang, Weigang Li.

Back to Reviews