Certainly earnest: Notos Quartett at the Wigmore
Notos Quartett
Wigmore Hall
Stalls C5, £5 under-35s
2 May 2019
Wigmore page
Programme
Brahms, Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor Op. 60
Jean Françaix, Divertissement for string trio and piano
Bartók, Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 20 (UK première)
I can’t remember what about this Notos Quartett concert attracted me towards it, nor can I understand what on earth could have possessed me to encourage some of my incredibly-high-standards friends to join me. It must have been the combination of Brahms and Bartók with piano quartet, or perhaps I was vapidly lured by the promise of a Bartók UK premiere (which could, of course, only be juvenilia). Alack, the evening did not rank among my finest experiences at the Wigmore.
My main impression of the Notos is that they are young and earnest, and perhaps this is sufficient to suggest future promise. Their present, however, is somewhat underwhelming, most obviously in the Brahms, the strongest piece in the programme. The Notos seem to think of Brahms as some kind of Rachmaninoff, playing with thick vibrato and creased brow gushing tragic release; if they could have played their bleeding hearts I’m sure they would have. Inevitable in such an approach is that the really interesting things Brahms does, his extraordinary voice leading, his characteristic harmonic moves, his playful rhythmicism, are obscured, smothered in a velvet catafalque. This plus dodgy intonation and a mysteriously inaudible piano.
The rest of the programme didn’t leave much of an impression. I took nothing form the Françaix apart from that it sounded like a lot of things I’d rather be listening to; I don’t know if this is the Notos’s fault or Françaix’s or some combination of the two. The Bartók was an interesting reminder of how much an artist can learn and change; while well constructed, neat and competent, were it not by Bartók I don’t think anyone would pause.
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