God Is In The TV
  • Home
  • News
    • Preview
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • EPs
    • Live
    • Arts
  • New Music
    • Track Of The Day
    • Preaching from the Pews
    • GIITTV Introducing
    • Video Of The Week
  • In Conversation
  • In Camera
    • Video
  • Features
    • Opinion
  • Competitions
Live, Reviews 0

Brodsky Quartet – Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, 15/03/2018

By Simon Godley · On March 17, 2018


For those who inhabit the world of popular music the name of the Brodsky Quartet is probably familiar due to their association with such contemporary cultural heavyweights as Paul McCartney, Björk (to whose Family Tree box set they notably contributed strings), Sting and Elvis Costello, with whom they collaborated on his 1993 studio album The Juliet Letters.

There is no doubting the Brodskys’ versatility. But this evening the four musicians – original members Ian Belton (violin) and Jacqueline Thomas (cello) who had helped form the quartet back in 1972, plus relative newcomers Paul Cassidy (viola) and Daniel Rowland (violin) – revert to their default position of the greatest classical tradition.

In the Howard Assembly Room tonight their performance is split into two broadly equal, yet quite distinct parts. The first half is Italianate in both its concept and execution, with the second inspired by and dedicated to the celebrated German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

The concert commences with the Brodsky Quartet’s interpretation of Hugo Wolf’s ‘Italian Serenade’, a work originally written for a string quartet in the late 19th century and in which the Brodskys’ retain much of the Austrian composer’s subtle levity and lucid elaboration.

Giacomo Puccini’s ‘Crisantemi’ (Chrysanthemums) follows. Another piece originally composed for a string quartet and again dating from the late 19th century, here Belton, Thomas, Cassidy and Rowland infuse the work with a much darker complexion than its predecessor. Both, though, share the quartet’s innate, telepathic understanding of each other’s role within their collective sound.

They then conclude the first part of the concert by setting their reproductive sights firmly on ‘String Quartet in E minor’. Written by another great Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi, it is powerful, expansive and technically complex. This is chamber music at its most dramatic and the Brodsky Quartet capture perfectly all of the contrasting urgency, aggression, and serendipity of each individual movement.

Karen Tanaka’s ‘At The Grave Of Beethoven’ – commissioned by the Brodsky Quartet on the occasion of the bicentenary of Beethoven’s opus 18 – opens part two of the performance and with it the Brodskys’ reflect not only some of the more gentle aspects of the contemporary Japanese composer’s heritage but also the horrendous visions of the civil war in Sarajevo that Tanaka witnessed on her TV screen when writing this piece in 1999.

Rather fittingly, the Brodsky Quartet end this virtuosic performance with ‘String Quartet in F major, Op. 135’, the last major work that Beethoven completed the year before his death in 1827. Their reading of this composition is as sensitive as it is bold, retaining all of the emotional tension, breathlessness and downright freedom of expression Beethoven had undoubtedly intended almost 200 years ago.

This is surely as close to musical perfection as you can possibly get. The playing is impeccable, flawless in fact, and in recreating all of these works what the Brodsky Quartet may lose in the absence of spontaneity and improvisation they more than compensate for with the music’s supreme cohesion, unparalleled luxuriance and unquenchable spirit.

Photo credit: Eric Richmond

Brodsky QuartetHoward Assembly Room
Share Tweet

You Might Also Like

  • Live

    I’m From Further East Than You: The Wedding Present in Bangkok

  • Albums

    The Filthy Tongues – Back To Hell (Neon Tetra)

  • Albums

    Okkervil River – In The Rainbow Rain (ATO Records)

No Comments

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Latest

  • I’m From Further East Than You: The Wedding Present in Bangkok

    April 20, 2018
  • Tracks Of The Week #23

    April 20, 2018
  • 9

    The Filthy Tongues – Back To Hell (Neon Tetra)

    April 20, 2018
  • TGI: What are the greatest intros of all time?

    April 20, 2018
  • 7

    Okkervil River – In The Rainbow Rain (ATO Records)

    April 20, 2018
  • NEWS: Lykke Li releases new single ‘deep end’

    April 20, 2018

Recent Comments

  • Bill Cummings on Manic Street Preachers – Resistance Is Futile (Columbia/Sony)
  • Anonymous on The Longcut – Arrows (Deltasonic)
  • Simon on The Longcut – Arrows (Deltasonic)
  • Phil on Alela Diane – Union Chapel, London, 12/04/2018
  • Suzanne on Jarvis Cocker – Williamson’s Tunnels, Liverpool, 04/04/2018
  • Kurts Angry Ghost on The Damned – Evil Spirits (Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records)

Popular

  • Otoboke Beaver – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 18/04/2018 Otoboke Beaver – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 18/04/2018
  • Jarvis Cocker - Williamson's Tunnels, Liverpool, 04/04/2018 Jarvis Cocker – Williamson’s Tunnels, Liverpool, 04/04/2018
  • The Damned - Evil Spirits (Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records) The Damned – Evil Spirits (Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records)
  • Slug- Higgledy Piggledy (Memphis Industries) Slug- Higgledy Piggledy (Memphis Industries)
  • Trembling Bells - Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, 07/04/2018 Trembling Bells – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, 07/04/2018
  • Tracks Of The Week #22 Tracks Of The Week #22
  • EXCLUSIVE: Group Listening - A Little Lost (Arthur Russell cover) Video EXCLUSIVE: Group Listening – A Little Lost (Arthur Russell cover) Video
  • Jack White - Boarding House Reach (Third Man) Jack White – Boarding House Reach (Third Man)
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Competition T & Cs
  • GIITTV Archive

Subscribe2


 

© 2004 - 2016 God is in the TV. All rights reserved.