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By ANDREW POWELL GR\u00dcNWALD \u2014 In mixing-bowl terms, Berlin\u2019s Armida Quartett<\/a> and Paris\u2019s Quatuor Modigliani<\/a> combined rather than blended in a standing-room-only concert Oct. 11 here at the August Everding Saal<\/a>. That is as required for some recipes, possibly including Mendelssohn\u2019s E-flat String Octet (1825), which received a convulsive, unnuanced performance that seemed to want to come apart in loud, fragmentary gestures, pleasing the crowd anyway. More enlightening were the program\u2019s two other half-hour works, before the break: the Mozart String Quintet in G Minor, K516 (1787), staffed by the Modigliani, and Brahms\u2019s B-flat String Sextet, Opus 18 (1860), centered on the Armida, with the violas and fine Modigliani cellist Fran\u00e7ois Kieffer<\/a> doing triple duty. The French group, now in its fourteenth year, had the tighter, more reserved ensemble and sound, suiting the Mozart; the German quartet, new in 2006 and adept at winning prizes, offered more character (violist Teresa Schwamm<\/a>), resonance (cellist Peter-Philipp Staemmler<\/a> on a larger instrument than Kieffer\u2019s 1706 Goffriller) and visceral abandon (first violin Martin Funda<\/a>), enhancing the Brahms. Not that anyone was competing. The sextet flowed with boldness and conviction, opulent tones throughout, a warm, lyrical traversal, swept along by Funda. The cellists delighted in each other\u2019s timbral contrasts. In the Mozart, a precise rapport among the Modigliani musicians produced intriguing balances, with Schwamm adding gradated charm. But here, as in the concluding Mendelssohn, Amaury Coeytaux<\/a>\u2019s pacing and deft fingerwork drew attention. He is the Modigliani\u2019s new first violin: at 33 the only man on stage with a pot belly, and apparently traveling without a hairbrush. (Coeytaux joined ten months ago, in time to lead the group\u2019s probing, pliant survey of the Schumann quartets recorded by Mirare<\/a> at Evian<\/a> in April. Although written together in 1842, the three Opus 41 pieces go their separate ways in terms of form and even style, something conveyed with discernment on the 79-minute disc<\/a>.) Gemeinde Gr\u00fcnwald itself presented the concert. This leafy little city on Munich\u2019s southern fringe, home to Bavaria Film<\/a> and once home to Carlos Kleiber<\/a> as well as stage director<\/a> Everding, boasts a median personal income of U.S. $147,000, as compared to $64,000 for Landkreis M\u00fcnchen and $45,000 statewide. Enough for the fanciest mixing bowls.<\/p>\n Photo \u00a9 Richie M\u00fcller<\/p>\n Related posts:
Published: October 16, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n
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