Tokyo String Quartet Concert

Tokyo String Quartet

This was a fantastic experience.

I almost did not make it. My ticket was from QPAC and I did not realise the concert was actually at the Queensland Conservatorium. Fortunately there wasstill plenty of time and it was not far away.

When I arrived there was a quartet of string instruments set up in the foyer. What I did not know at the time was that the Tokyo String Quartet were going to present these instruments to the inaugural Jani Haenke Quartet. More on that later.

I have never been to the Conservatorium Theatre before. It was great. The ceilings are very high and the acoustics were amazing, as one would expect. My seat was about two thirds of the way back and almost in the centre of the row, so I was looking slightly down at the stage. It was bare except for two banners and the four seats for the quartet.

The lady from Musica Viva came out to give an introduction to the quartet and the show. Before this event I did not know who the Tokyo String Quartet were so much of that was lost on me. The group has been around for 40 years, though now there is only the one original member. They play on a set of Stradivarius instruments so the sound is going to be exceptional, more so because each of the men is a master of their instrument.

They opened with "String Quartet no 16" by Peter SCULTHORPE. This piece is composed of five movements:
I Loneliness
II Anger
III Yearning
IV Trauma
V Freedom
It is based on "From Nothing To Zero" which is a book of extracts from letters written by asylum seekers in Australian detention centres. Some of the music was very haunting as you might expect, but what amazed me was the way the cello was used to imitate the sound of birds - a common theme in this quartet. I wonder if the people who made the cello all those decades go had an inkling it would be used for bird sounds.

The next piece was "String Quartet no 6" by Béla BARTÓK. When each of the four movements has the word "sad" in it, you know what to expect. And it was for the most part melancholy. When you realise Bartok wrote this soon after the death of his mother and the outbreak of World War II you can perhaps understand why.

After this came a small intermission. I guess when you are playing music like this you need the break. This must be especially true when you consider the piece that follows.

"String Quartet no 14 in C# minor" by Ludwig van BEETHOVEN. This is a favourite of  the quartet. It has seven movements all together though they are joined as opposed to a small rest between each one as was the case with the previous quartet. This is one of Beethoven's greatest works. It was written a year before he died. To be honest, this music didn't grab me the way I thought it would and I don't know why. Obviously it meant a lot to the players of the quartet and perhaps to some of the audience, but not to me.

The sound they made with their instruments was beautiful. It was a wonderful experience not only to see and hear those instruments, but to have them played by artists with such skill and passion. It was truly amazing. At some points it was like all four instruments were being played by one person. I really enjoyed seeing how they interacted with each other as they played. As you know, I am learning the violin, and after watching this I still love it, but now I have a much greater appreciation of the viola and the cello.

After the concert the audience was invited back to the foyer. This is when the winners of a string quartet competition were announced and presented with the Jani Haenke instruments. At this point I regret not taking photos of them or writing down the details. The one thing I remember clearly was that the cello is a replica of the Sleeping Beauty. Each of the new instruments comes with silver-mounted bows made by Pierre Guillaume in Brussels, and with a set of performance bows made especially for the Queensland Conservatorium inscribed and with opal inserts in the silver mount. Fancy.

One thing that was said stuck with me. A student was allowed to play one of the newly acquired violins and he was able to produce some beautiful sound. Instead of being disheartened when he returned to his own lesser instrument, he said he felt encouraged. He reasoned that if he was able to make sound like that with a beautiful instrument then he felt inspired to make a similar sound with his own. This goes back to what my teacher told me: a great player can make even an average violin sound wonderful.


At this point it was getting late so I made my way home. Tonight was a great experience and one I will remember for a long time to come.