LF 26: The Fibonacci Quartet I & II

Holy Trinity Church, Haddington 17/9/26 and 18/9/26

Fibonacci Quartet

Over two Coffee Concerts at this year’s Lammermuir Festival, the youthful award-winning Fibonacci Quartet covered two sunny D-major classics, Haydn’s ‘Lark’ and Mozart’s ‘Prussian’ quartets, Debussy’s only quartet (and first major work) written on the cusp of the emergence of the musical style that everyone except Debussy himself was happy to call “impressionism”, and Janácek’s poignantly revelatory and rawly emotive ‘Intimate Letters’. Into the mix, they added a set of their own arrangements of Moravian folk songs and dances, plus a sweet Florence Price miniature, her ‘Adoration’.

Mozart’s 1789 String Quartet in D major K575 ‘Prussian’ opened with a deceptively leisurely arching melody, before long becoming more conversational and quite ‘democratic’ in the disposition of thematic material among the parts, but with especial prominence for the cellist Findlay Spence – the Prussian king who commissioned the work was a keen cellist. I loved the lightness of touch in the playing, the subtle additional rubato in the exposition repeat and the drama of the dynamic at its climax, and the air of mystery in the transition to the brief but generous development. The whimsy in the coda was delightful. The idyllic Andante always reminds me of the slow movement of a piano concerto, but with the cello as soloist. It was exquisite, the cantabile conversation between cello and Luna de Mol playing first violin particularly fine. The playful and characterful minuet with its quirky fp displaced accents and hilarious “cuckoo” interplay in its second section was delightful. In the Trio, the cello was eloquent, but everybody got a chance to carry the baton. Additional rubato on the “cuckoos” in the minuet reprise delivered a cheeky “nudge-nudge, wink-wink”. The cello was the first to sing the melody of the finale, answered tutti. Mozart then worked through his toolbox with agile scrambling, key exploration and playing with the dynamic, before getting down to some seriously worked counterpoint. The cello made attempts to return to the main melody, ignored by the others. Eventually, they relented and he got to sing his solo again. A cheeky slowing up before a final dash (not marked in my score) added thrill to the coda. Super characterful Mozart.

The violinists swapped places for the 4 Moravian Folksong arrangements, with Kryštof Kohout taking the first violin line. Under a soft held harmonic from the second violin, he sang the first verse of the wistful first song in Czech. The other instruments entered until the remaining verses were played tutti, in harmony with ornamentation, concluding morendo. The second piece, a dance tune, still in a minor key, started slow and accelerated to a hectic pace. It sounded quite Hungarian to me. A first violin recitative over tremolo opened the third piece, leading to a song melody in a major key, over radiant pianissimo harmonies. Quite like Dvořák, though presumably Moravian rather than Bohemian. Dance, this time with a distinctly klezmer/Hungarian csárdás fusion influence, returned for the last piece,, concluding with another dashing flourish. Immensely entertaining music, cleverly arranged, and expertly performed.

I had the pleasure of hearing the Fibonaccis play Janácek’s String Quartet No 2 ‘Intimate Letters’ in the Queen’s Hall at last year’s Edinburgh International Festival. The following is what I wrote then:

“Janáček’s ‘Intimate Letters’ is, for me, a favourite piece by a favourite composer. I have written before about why I consider Janáček’s musical language to be very special. His realisation of how to incorporate speech rhythms of the Czech language into his music lends it a directness and immediacy that commands the attention of the listener. It is emotionally involving and the listener becomes emotionally invested in the enfolding narrative. ... ‘Intimate Letters’ is episodic, ... impulsively and even obsessively so. It charts the composer’s emotional states as expressed in the over 700 letters he wrote to Kamila Stösslová, a woman 40 years his junior, though both of them were married to other people and she did not return his affection. All four parts had opportunities for individual and characterful expression, with especial prominence for the Welsh violist, Elliot Kempton. I heard a very fine compelling performance that had me on the edge of my seat. Not quite as awe-inspiring as the performance by the Pavel Haas Quartet that I heard at the 2022 East Neuk Festival, but definitely up there.”

I can readily echo those sentiments for this Lammermuir outing of the piece. But, even allowing for the more generous acoustic of Haddington’s Holy Trinity Church, I would say that their interpretation has matured significantly. The sheer manic intensity of Janáček’s unfiltered declarations has become starker, while the contrasts are in higher definition. My Pavel Haas Janáček pedestal is still intact, but who can say for how long? As an encore to the first concert, another charming Fibonacci arrangement was introduced by violinist Luna as “on the theme of love, but not as unhinged as Janáček’s”. Nat King Cole’s ‘When I Fall in Love’ was played con sord., with dreamy harmonies and smooth jazz chords, as the melody passed from player to player, with a shimmering conclusion. Gorgeous.

For Haydn’s String Quartet in D major Op 64 No 5 ‘Lark’, Luna was back in the leader’s chair and got to sing the sweet eponymous first movement melody. For my personal taste, the ‘Allegro moderato’ was rather more allegro and less moderato than I prefer, but it did relax slightly into the melody, which was just as sweet. In the exposition repeat, stylish and very larkish grace-notes ornamented the first three notes of the bird’s reprise. There was great ensemble power in the climax of the agile and muscular development. There was joy in the recapitulation’s turn to a new trajectory and a slowing to the pause, with a brief but elegant improvised birdsong cadenza from Luna. There were added trills in the resumption of the melody and simple charm in the piano coda. Ornithological Heaven. More lyrical singing for the first violin in the A-major slow movement, which has a quasi-improvisatory quality. A brief sojourn to C-major feels fragile, as if about to slip into A-minor, but A major is restored and the first violin celebrates with a flight of fancy. It was delivered as Haydn at his most idyllic. The good-humoured minuet started off with a certain rough rustic charm, but mimicry of the grace-note on the upbeat became a running gag which almost went too far. The D-minor Trio seemed to scowl with pedantic disapproval, but the reprise of the minuet made clear that the rustics “ain’t bovvered”. Delightful Haydn wit, which set us up nicely for the finale, a helter-skelter romp which gives the quartet its other nickname: ‘Hornpipe’. It set off like a rocket and there was no let-up in the headlong rush, right through the D-minor central fugal section and on into the D-major reprise and jubilant coda. Bonkers but brilliant.

Florence Price’s ‘Adoration’ was introduced by violinist Kryštof Kohout. Originally a 1951 organ piece, it has been arranged for different combinations, including (obviously) string quartet. Its style is very much Late Romantic with a mood best described as “prayerful”. A lyrical cello introduced the melody. There was an American feel to the first violin’s chromaticism in the central section. The harmony was sweet and lush. High cello carried the melody through the diminuendo conclusion. A charming piece, lasting just 7 minutes.

Cellist Findlay Spence introduced Debussy’s 1893 String Quartet in G minor Op 10, mentioning that it is, in fact, the only piece to which the composer assigned an opus number. The principles of cyclical thematic unity that we associate with Franck and Liszt are in evidence, but so is a bold new sound world of shimmering textures, exotic colour, fluid harmonies and rhythmic vitality. It feels very French, though it is probably more accurate to describe it as “very not-Germanic”. The first movement’s two themes, one boldly striding and confident, the other more pensive and gentle, both modal, rather than developed in any classical sense, are examined as if from different angles and perspectives and with different lighting effects and sharpness of focus. The themes of the other movements can be traced back to these ideas. It still manages to be dramatic and engaging to modern ears, but of course our ears have been schooled by all that has happened since, so much of it triggered by ‘Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune’, written by Debussy only a year later. The Fibonaccis made it sound fresh and innovative, The jaunty, rhythmic, optimistic second movement bowled along playfully, moments of gleeful dance slipping occasionally into shimmering soft focus. In the slow movement, an anxious bridge from the first movement was slowed to a tender melancholy song with moments of pathos but also serenity. A magical central section began with plainchant from the viola answered by sweet serene chords from the others. An intense anxious climax marked the peak of an arch form and the movement retraced symmetrically to idyllic repose. The restless finale presented a collage of related melodic fragments from the earlier movements, never quite settling on any of them, yet driving through to an emphatic conclusion. A compelling and engaging reading, nonetheless, of a seminal masterwork.

Violist Elliot Kempton introduced the encore closing the second concert, another Fibonacci arrangement. They had been wanting for a while to arrange a rhythmic Gershwin number but were torn between ‘I’ve Got Rhythm’ and ‘Fascinating Rhythm’. So they combined them in one. A very clever and very entertaining arrangement.

Weblinks: https://www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk/event/coffee-concert-fibonacci-quartet-i/

https://www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk/event/coffee-concert-fibonacci-quartet-ii/