"Quartet's Haydn Sparkles"

 By Ken Winters 

Special to the Globe and Mail

Monday, November 6, 2000

An eloquent reading of Haydn was the highlight of a recital by the Ciompi String Quartet for the Women's Musical Club of Toronto on Thursday. Works by Schumann, Prokofiev and the Chinese composer Zhou Long rounded out the mixed program at Walter Hall. 

The American quartet's clear, expressive reading of Haydn's beautiful Quartet in D, fifth of the six in the late Opus 76, earned warm applause. What was so touching was that the music came across with no exaggeration, no applied virtuosity, but a real sense of its importance to each of the four players. The musicians were sensitive and alert. The tempos were vital but natural and unforced. The superb Largo movement unfolded in a kind of poignant serenity that was heavenly. The minuet bore honest witness to Haydn's inexhaustible creative fertility in this simple dance form. The finale was a true presto both in its vivacity and in its surprise. The Ciompi Quartet can play Haydn for me any time. 

The string-quartet arrangements by Zhou Long of four Chinese folk songs made a novel and attractive end to the first half of the concert. Without in any way torturing the songs, the players, or the audience, Zhou Long exploited in a sophisticated way their individual charms and their striking differences, creating a four-movement suite as satisfying as a sonata, with its opening allegro, its slow movement, its scherzo and its bold finale. (The finale in this case was enhanced by occasional shouts from the four players.) The arrangements are a valuable addition to the light repertoire for string quartet.