Great Barrington — Few patrons of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center could have guessed what they were in for on the evening of Saturday, May 14. Yes, everyone knew this installment of the Close Encounters With Music (CEWM) series would feature a certain up-and-coming ensemble, the notoriously youthful Dover String Quartet. The four Curtis alums had come highly recommended by innumerable peers, critics, and pedagogues, and their program for the evening consisted of pieces that CEWM’s Artistic Director, Yehuda Hanani, had aptly described as “landmark works of chamber music.” Expectations were high. Yet even the most knowledgeable listeners in the auditorium were taken aback by what they heard.
In 2013, the Strad noted that the Dover players were “pulling away from their peers.” This was certainly an understatement, as the ensemble had recently swept the Banff International String Quartet Competition, winning the Grand Prize and all three Special Prizes. Clearly, the four musicians in 2013 had already pulled miles ahead of their peers, which is why the quartet now has a new set of peers. Today, the group stands shoulder to shoulder with world-class quartets whose members were only recently the Dover players’ mentors and teachers.
Dvořák’s Quartet in F major, Op. 96, “American” was first on Saturday’s program, and the Dover String Quartet made it sing. Or, rather, they allowed it to sing. Their technical precision is revelatory: It reveals the composer’s intentions and designs. It exposes the tiniest details of the composer’s craftsmanship and artistry. It opens a window into the innermost regions of the composer’s mind.
Dvořák’s themes never sounded better or his harmonies sweeter than they did on Saturday evening. In fact, more than a few listeners were struck by the sense that they were hearing the American Quartet for the first time. When it’s performed with impeccable technique, anyone can hear that it’s a masterpiece.
But Dvořák’s quartet is one thing. Alban Berg’s is another entirely.
Every time they perform together, the Dover musicians prove that extraordinary musicianship can make even the most challenging pieces easier for listeners to understand and enjoy. Their performance of Alban Berg’s devilishly difficult String Quartet No. 2, Op. 3 is a perfect example. This is the very first piece the group tackled when they got together some eight years ago. They love it, they know it intimately, they’ve played it a million times, and there’s no mistaking these facts when you hear them perform it. Their mastery of this composition reveals in Berg’s harmonies an elusive beauty — a sweet quality that most ensembles find exceedingly difficult to coax out of the work. The Dover String Quartet makes it just as difficult to remember why Berg’s music has been so controversial all these years.
Beethoven’s String Quartet No.7 in F major, Op.59 No.1 “Razumovsky” was groundbreaking in its day. Not everyone liked it. Some hated it. And no wonder: By this point in his career (the beginning of his “middle” period) Beethoven had begun in earnest to transform the traditions of Haydn and Mozart into an unprecedented style of his own, and his harmonic writing was now advanced beyond anything Vienna audiences had heard before. Strange new compositional structures were viewed by many critics as an unforgivable desecration of Sonata form. It was all so outlandish that some of his loyal supporters believed he had lost his mind. (Two decades later, they were convinced of it.)
In the 21st century, it’s easy to forget about the critical resistance Beethoven faced in his lifetime, but it’s even easier when the Dover players get their hands on a piece like his F Major quartet. Their treatment of it — measure after flawless measure — revealed beauty so rare and sublime that the performance must have been an epiphany to many in the audience.
The Dover Quartet is one unbelievably tight band. If you had closed your eyes during this concert, you’d have sworn a single musician was somehow playing every instrument. All chamber music should be this precise, but relatively few ensembles can pull it off like the Dover String Quartet.
