String Quartet in A, Op 18 No. 15 - Beethoven
String Quartet in D minor, Op 56 - Sibelius
Sting Quartet in F, Op. 135 - Beethoven
It is a great achievement to make an old and familiar work take on the colours and shades of a recent discovery. The Oslo String Quartet in the Law Society might have been saying: "Listen to what we have found; we think you will like it too!" so fresh was their approach, so varied their response. Beethoven's Op.18, No.5 half-invited, half-demanded, the audience's participation in its changes of mood; when the players had such rapport with each other the four voices became one and could, like a great actor, convey a world of meaning in a phrase of a soliloquy. Not that this was a performance of half tones; there seemed to be an inexhaustible source of energy behind the playing, and the same vigour that enlivened the moments of warmth gave strength to the profound meditations that are almost Beethoven's signature in his Quartets.
If one had never heard any orchestral music, one would be hard put to place his Quartet; superficially it owes little to the classical model. Regarded as a superb transcription of a lost orchestral suite, it immediately joins the company of works such as En Saga; indeed, it is hard not to be reminded of the latter in the fourth movement of the Quartet. The deeply felt slow movement, whose alternation of themes suggests an ancient wisdom, pre-Haydn, pre-Mozart, was given force and concision by the Oslo players, and the hectic finale reached an extraordinary pitch of intensity.
After such a catharsis, could Beethoven's Op.135 live up to expectation? Seldom can the slow movement have sounded so informed by thought, the motto theme ("Must it be? It must be!") of the last movement so menacing, the conclusion so joyful, and the audience clearly showed its appreciation.
