Australian String Quartet. Elder Hall. 9 Jun 2026

 

The joy of a string quartet is that a good one demonstrates how four string players—two violins, a viola and a cello—can produce something greater than the sum of their individual voices. Interwoven, the title of the Australian String Quartet’s current national tour, presents four works spanning more than two centuries of the genre, each offering something distinctive and rewarding. Together, they reveal the string quartet’s remarkable capacity for reinvention across the ages and its continuing ability to provoke, engage and remain musically relevant.

 

The programme comprised Australian composer Elizabeth Younan's String Quartet No. 1 (Interwoven), Haydn's String Quartet in A Major, Op. 20 No. 6, Sergei Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 92, and finally Clara Schumann's Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 20, arranged for string quartet by Éric Mouret.

 

In introducing the Schumann, violinist Francesca Hiew extolled Clara Schumann’s considerable gifts as both composer and performer and explained that the ensemble had chosen the work to conclude the concert. Yet perhaps the programme should have ended with the Prokofiev. Why? Simple. End the concert with a ‘bang’ and send the audience out into the night desperately wanting more from this superb ensemble. The Prokofiev achieves exactly that; the Schumann does not. The Prokofiev excites the entire body to its core, while the Schumann leaves the listener with a contented smile and a warm glow.

 

The concert began superbly with a spirited performance of Younan’s Interwoven. As the newest work on the programme, written by a living Australian composer, it challenges many assumptions about what a string quartet should sound like. As its title suggests, the work comprises interconnected strands of musical thought that briefly flirt with different motifs, textures and colours before moving on. Atmosphere takes precedence over traditional harmonic progression. It is unmistakably contemporary. Rather than presenting four distinct voices in conversation, the quartet often behaves as a single creature. Interwoven does not reveal its structure readily, but the ASQ played with admirable balance and ensured important musical lines emerged clearly.

 

Haydn's Op. 20 quartets, composed in 1772, are often known as the “Sun” Quartets and represent a pivotal moment in the history of chamber music. Before Haydn, quartets frequently resembled accompanied violin sonatas; here, genuine dialogue emerges and the four instruments become equal conversational partners. Op. 20 No. 6 opens with unusual seriousness and concludes with a substantial fugue rather than a more conventional lively finale, demonstrating Haydn's growing fascination with contrapuntal writing. In typically Haydnesque fashion, the entire work is developed with remarkable economy, never wasting a note or indulging in excess. That economy presents its own challenge for performers, demanding immaculate intonation and articulation to preserve clarity, particularly in the fugue. The ASQ delivered in spades.

 

If Haydn's quartet epitomises Classical balance, even with its forward-looking fugue, Prokofiev's Second Quartet bursts with twentieth-century colour, energy and national character. Written in 1941 while the composer was evacuated from Moscow during World War II, the work incorporates folk melodies and musical characteristics of the Kabardinian people among whom Prokofiev found himself living. Although often bold and rhythmically driven, the music is also lyrical and a wonderful demonstration of Prokofiev’s distinctive harmonic language. Its brilliance keeps the audience constantly engaged, with heads bobbing and fingers tapping thighs throughout. The ASQ sustained the work’s intensity and momentum while adroitly navigating its sudden shifts in mood and character. It is surely one of the most distinctive quartets of the twentieth-century repertoire and would have provided a thrilling conclusion to the evening.

 

Clara Schumann’s Variations was originally a piano work composed in 1853 on a theme by her husband Robert. While Romantic in style and rich in melody, it is also meticulously constructed, balancing emotional expression with formal discipline. In Mouret’s arrangement, the four instruments are used deftly to illuminate different facets of the theme and its transformations. The ASQ allowed the music to become deeply expressive without ever sacrificing balance or refinement.

 

The ASQ’s playing throughout the concert was skilful, disciplined and unfailingly musical. They consistently drew attention to the inner voices, and Chris Cartlidge’s viola lines were especially illuminating. The program amounted to a history lesson in the evolution of the string quartet, and it was utterly riveting.

 

Kym Clayton

 

When: 9 Jun

Where: Elder Hall

Bookings: Closed