Schumann Quartet review – fleetness, humour and dexterity

Wigmore Hall, LondonThe German quartet were marvellously engaging in this all-Haydn programme featuring some of the composer’s most striking worksOriginally hailing from Cologne, the Schumann Quartet consists of three brothers – violinists Erik and Ken, and cellist Mark Schumann – and the Estonian-born violist Liisa Randalu. They recently held a residency at Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt, Austria, where Haydn was the Esterházy’s kapellmeister. Four of the composer’s quartets formed the programme for this captivating concert, which emphasised the often startling originality of Haydn’s contribution to the genre and the freshness and immediacy of the Schumanns’ playing. This was music-making of the highest order.They opened with the Quartet in G, Op 33, No 5. Haydn wrote it in 1781 after an intense period of operatic composition, and an air of theatricality hovers over its successive solos and ensembles. The slow movement is, in essence, an aria of lamentation for the first violin, its arching melody and closing cadenza sustained with beguiling poise and intensity by Erik Schumann. The subsequent scherzo, however, finds Haydn at his most impudent and experimental, pulling the listener off balance with rhythmic dislocations and jolting pauses, and the fleetness, humour and dexterity of the Schumanns’ playing was marvellously engaging. Continue reading…
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