Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412100015
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Polish quartet, which performed Wednesday night at Roanoke College's Olin Hall, has a vanishingly low profile in America but nevertheless is a tremendously accomplished ensemble.
It's not quite fair to say they're a secret in this country, but their huge discography is mostly on small, badly distributed labels that can be found in the classical music bins of only the biggest CD stores. Their recording of the music of Lutoslawski won the prestigious Diapason d'Or award four years ago.
The Wilanow String Quartet came to Salem as part of the Roanoke Valley Chamber Music Society season and performed before a sparse crowd of 102 concertgoers. Their program of Haydn, Szymanowski and Brahms was one of the strongest and most musically intelligent performances of any RVCMS season in years.
The venerable grouping of two violins, viola and cello has been called ``the instrument with 16 strings.'' But it's rare to hear a quartet with such ensemble that it actually sounds like a single huge instrument played by a single performer. The Wilanows attained this level several times Wednesday night.
They began their program with the String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76, No. 1 of Franz Josef Haydn, the first of the so-called ``Erdody'' quartets. There was a balance, integrity and lyricism in this performance that was exceptionally satisfying. In the tutti statement of the first movement's main theme, the Wilanows sounded like the fabled 16-stringed instrument.
Incidentally, by the time violist Ryszard Duz kicked off the development section of the first movement, it was clear that he was one of the two or three finest violists ever to perform in Olin Hall. Duz played with a gorgeous, rich tone, flawless definition and virtually perfect balance - what a violist!
For the Wilanows, the heart-breakingly lovely second movement was the center of gravity of their performance. The hymn-like first melody, played by the entire quartet, revealed spiritual depths I had never before sensed in this work. And the difficult final section - in which first violinist Tadeusz Gadzina dropped in the afterbeats to a kind of ostinato pattern from the other three instruments - approached perfection.
The rest of the Haydn, from the country dance of the third movement to the substantial fourth movement, was similarly effective, and the Wilanows were called back once for more applause from the small crowd.
Less pleasing was Karol Szymanowski's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 56. Not because the Wilanows played with less skill, but simply because it's hard to warm up to this austere and dissonant work. The piece began forebodingly with a rapid four-note repeated figure from the second violin and viola played under long, singing lines from the other two instruments.
The second movement contained viciously difficult syncopated pizzicati and strange effects such as wild glissandi from the violins, and ended abruptly on a single loud pizzicato. The final movement was full of storm and stress and communicated the sense of unease that marks much of this composer's music.
The concert ended with a strong traversal of the String Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2 of Johannes Brahms. Full of Bachian polyphony and canonic devices, it was the most substantial work on the program. Especially fine was the lyrical second movement with its aria-like melody in canon from cello and first violin. There were moments during the final movement when inspiration flagged and the Wilanows played perfunctorily, but the piece earned insistent applause from the Olin Hall crowd.
At their third curtain-call the players conferred and decided against an encore, but their audience was insistent and brought them out for a fourth bow. The quartet rewarded concertgoers with the exotic-sounding second movement of Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F Major.
by CNB