Light and shade surround us with Dundee Chamber Music

Chamber music is enjoyable in two ways. The music – obviously – and the varying numerical combinations that can produce marvellous waves of music. Tuesday night’s concert in the Marryat Hall, under the auspices of Dundee Chamber Music, covered the first aspect in wonderful fashion with four and five taking care of the numerical side of things. Four was the Dante Quartet and five was this ensemble plus pianist Daniel Tong. Everything added up to a superb evening of music.

Only the more astute among the audience would’ve realised this is more or less a fledgling quartet, with cellist Richard Jenkinson the only survivor of the previous Dante. There were one or two miniscule moments of non-parity, but the music was delivered in style, the brightness of Haydn’s Sunrise quartet countered by the ominous angst of Shostakovich.

The con spirito of the opening Haydn movement was taken quite literally – it was fresh and it was bright, as well as being full of spirit. “Sunrise” is a fitting title as you hear birds tweeting and daylight taking shape. Daytime itself takes the shape of a gleeful finale.

There is no sub-title to Shostakovich’s fourth quartet, although “unease” and “atmospheric” are both quite apt. Even in the faster passages, the composer fails to shake off the shackles of agitation and in the finale the folk-song idiom is merely a screen for unrest and discontent.

Dvorak’s piano quintet is in my top five chamber music works.

It has wonderful, luscious and deep textures that neither the Haydn nor the Shostakovich has, as well as a second movement in which the composer packs enough material to satisfy a listener all on its own. Suffice to say, the performance of Tong and the Dante was truly exceptional, with the different layout of performers in the hall adding a delicious intimacy that is unusual in such circumstances.