Talented Takacs Quartet Brings Mozart to Middlebury

Author: Lucie Greene

Saturday evening, Jan. 25, saw the prestigious and internationally-famed Tak·cs Quartet perform at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall, including Edward Dusinberre and K·roly Schranz on violin, Roger Tapping on viola and Andr·s FejÈr on cello.

The evening was particularly special because Middlebury College's own Associate Professor of Music Su Lian Tan composed one of the central pieces performed, and was present to both introduce and explain it. The popularity of the Tak·cs Quartet and Tan alone was reflected in the packed concert hall, all enthusiastically supporting what was about to commence.

The evening began with a quartet by Mozart, originally devoted to Frederich Wilhelm II of Prussia. This went through four contrasting movements, each engaging a different mood and feeling. I particularly enjoyed the rich cello sections in the second movement, played beautifully by Andras Fejer.

Next, the Quartet performed "Life in Wayang," written in 2002 by Tan. Tan introduced the piece and gave a brief description on each of the movements.

This was helpful -- the audience could discern and appreciate elements that previously might have been overlooked. Concerts of this nature avoid the assumption of a background in Classical music.

Needless to say, the piece was fantastic. Based on the Southeast Asian tradition of Puppet theatre, it bore clear references to Southeast Asian Gamelan Music and tribal singing.

This was achieved not only through varied use of the stringed instruments, at times even violently plucking them to reinforce the percussive nature of Gamelan, but also by using a combination of Western modality and Southeast Asian scales. Gamelan music, predominantly a Balinese style, is comprised of several percussive instruments that are plucked as an orchestra. As the piece progressed through three different movements, the intentional contrast in moods was played expertly. The first sounded menacing and confrontational.

The second, more harmonious and pleasant in overtone, was completed with a contemplative and celebratory phase. This contemporary work played between two such institutional Classical composers and also provided a bit of variation.

To finish, the Quartet played Quartet in G major op.161, D887 by Schubert. This, again, allowed the players to demonstrate their skill by moving through each of the four sections at various stages, with each member taking a turn to dominate the melody.