People Are Talking: Tetzlaff Quartet
Posted: 4/9/11 -- 12:00 am
by Rachelle Lesko
Tell us what you thought! This is the place to comment on the performance, and talk to other people about what you saw and heard. Don’t forget to click the option to be notified when new comments are posted.
Rachelle is the UMS Development Administrative Assistant and has just started her fourth season at UMS. She likes to spend her free time running, knitting, reading, and going to concerts. She also has a weakness for cupcakes—her favorite dessert!
about 4 days ago 
about 7 days ago 
As I entered the hall, an acquaintance predicted that this group would have a hard time giving us something better than we got last evening (see my review.) I added that this was an international contest — Germany vs. Hungary.
Not to worry! This was an astonishing concert by a wonderful young group. Every player and the group as a whole are admirable. Without parsing the individual works they played, I’ll just say that they played with full-bore passion, producing at least as much sound as the Guarneri players used to do and also with unbelieving whispering subtlety when such occasions arose – literally unbelievable: I don’t know when I’ve heard such pianississimos from any string quartet; it was as though a breeze had wafted across the strings or, in the Mendelssohn, as though a herd of mice had galloped over the fingerboards.
They brought out the wit in the Haydn and the many moods and colors in the Mendelssohn and Sibelius compositions.
I can’t wait to hear them again. Really!
Music Lover
The performance last night was breathtaking, romantic, whole-souled and captivating!
Except for inevitable coughs and one distracting cell phone, the gentle Tetzlaff Quartet commanded the audience’s silence and attention with an enchanting, wholly graceful, fully musical performance.
Who knew Haydn could sound as romantic as Brahms? The second and third movements still resonate roundly. And Mendelssohn–the folk-like lament–played do tenderly! Finally, Sibelius, whose challenge I always enjoy: how refreshing to hear such a subtle interpretation.
I enjoy attending chamber music performances because the experience is so immediate and because it is moving to hear the specific voices of limited instruments weaving their designs. This performance by the Tetzlaff Quartet was generous and outstanding.
We were so glad they played an encore movement from Dvorak. We felt privileged to be in the audience on this special night.
Faye
Hi all!
As an encore, the Quartet played the second movement from Dvorak’s Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major.
Liz Stover, UMS Programming Coordinator
Liz Stover
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