Fab four pull all the right strings

MUSICA VIVA TASMANIA GIOCOSO STRING QUARTET Hobart Town Hall April 5

HOBART was the first stop in a national tour by the youthful Europe-based Giocoso String Quartet — Sebastian Casleanu, Teofil Todica (violins), Martha Windhagauer (viola) and Bas Jongen (cello). They started with some most stylish and elegant Haydn — the String Quartet in D major,

Op.71 No.2 (1793) — where bright, clean textures and controlled energy featured along with nicely matched dynamics.

Schumann’s three quartets Op.41 Nos 1-3 were composed in 1842. Though not among his best-known chamber music compositions, they are highly individual and characteristic works.

The Giocoso players clearly empathise strongly with Op.41 No.1 and its echoes of Beethoven’s

Ninth Symphony and his late quartets. This was a superbly committed and integrated performance.

Finally Ravel’s brilliant String Quartet in F major (1902-03) was given vibrant instrumental colour and transparency, the climax of the first movement, in particular, achieving great power and passionate expression. The slow movement provided contrasting moments of tenderness and repose.

The appreciative audience was treated to an arrangement for string quartet of the Passacaglia from Handel’s Suite No.7 in G minor for keyboard.