VIAF 2023

BEAUTIFUL, BRILLIANT BRAHMS

Brahms is so highly and universally regarded that he is included in the trinity of the greatest of composers, the other two being J.S. Bach and Beethoven. My own three B’s with regard to this exciting VIAF event is clearly stated above. The music was beautiful and the performance was brilliantly rendered by the four musicians in an all-Brahms concert.

The Waldstein Piano Quartet is based in London. Its members are an interesting mix of a Greek-Cypriot pianist, a Greek-Albanian violinist, a Mexican cellist and a Maltese-born viola player from London. This is a healthy international mix which provides ample proof that the love of music knows no boundaries.

From the core of a classic piano trio line-up,

the adhesion of Peter Fenech turned it into a piano quartet. Unless looks were to be deceitful, Peter could be the youngest of the performers. Truth be told there was never a chink in the compactness, mutual rapport and balance between the four players. They projected a sensation of well-knit performers who performed some of the loveliest pages in Brahms’s chamber repertoire.

The concert consisted two of of the three piano quartets Brahms composed, namely N.1 in G minor, Op. 25 and the slightly briefer N.3, in C minor, Op.60, (“Werther”.)

Both bear the composer’s imprint based upon his intense classicism and the power and sweep of his symphonist mindset. The result is a mix of striking energy, a clearly determined, musical piece of monumental architecture, of almost overwhelming proportions. Yet the mighty Titan is also capable of penning, in his most tender moments, some of the gentlest and most suave pages in his chamber repertoire.

Both the quartets performed share these general characteristics. The composer’s distinctive stamp was there, with warmth and passion ss well as lighter moments of contrasting relief. Although the piano has a leading role, the balanced interaction does not completely overpower the strings. The scoring allows for a generous sharing of the material. In both works it still felt at times that the cello was given a slightly bigger dose of limelight. Well, “..thus spake the Master!”

An unflinchingly, smooth projection remained paramount even in the rather wild concluding yet disciplined conclusion of Op. 25, with Rondo alla Zingarese: presto it was so very exhilarating, a reminder of a type music Brahms very much loved. At one point one viola string snapped and Peter Fenech, visibly unperturbed carried on with unflagging concentration. Later he said to me that luckily he could still sail through the rest of the work because there was hardly anything left where this cord was needed. It was replaced with a new cord during the brief interval.

Op. 60 with a long gestation behind it had its remarkable moments too. The absolute best was the Andante which is a reminder of the admittedly interest Brahms had for Goethe’s Werther, a story of unhappiness, thwarted love and eventual suicide.

This was another memorable chapter in this edition of the VIAF. Very well done to the Waldstein Piano Quartet and the organising Festival team.

Albert George Storace.