Kuss Quartet’s Beethoven tour with Paganini-loved instruments

By Yawara Watanabe, 15 June 2019

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Reviewed at Suntory Hall: Blue Rose (Small Hall), Tokyo on 13 June 2019

Beethoven, String Quartet no. 14 in C sharp minor, Op.131

Beethoven, String Quartet no. 16 in F major, Op.135

Mantovani, String Quartet no. 6 "Beethoveniana" (World premiere)

Kuss Quartet

Jana Kuss, Violin

Oliver Wille, Violin

William Coleman, Viola

Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, Cello

Kuss Quartet brings late Beethoven to Liverpool

Leighton Jones, 2nd February

The Kuss Quartet sandwich Kurtág’s Officium Breve between two late Beethoven quartets in the elegant surroundings of the Small Concert Room, St George’s Hall, Liverpool.

***11

Ambition meets the Philharmonie: Peltokoski and Kantorow in Paris

Laurence Vittes, 2nd June

Two prodigies, with a surplus of imagination and more interest in the moment than in creating long arcs of music, join the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in Paris.

****1

Staatskapelle Dresden’s sonic alchemy at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 2nd June

From the earthy joy of Meistersinger to the sublime textures of Debussy, Daniele Gatti channels the Dresdeners' legendary, layered warmth into an unforgettable evening of pure acoustic luxury.

****1

Kissin, Bell and Isserlis: remembrance and loss at Carnegie Hall

Edward Sava-Segal, 31st May

Solomon Rosowsky, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky form a matinee programme whose deeper connections gradually came into focus.

****1

Jurowski marks Hans Werner Henze’s centenary at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 31st May

Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin deliver a lean, razor-sharp exploration of captivity and survival, balancing Beethoven’s and Brahms’ structural clarity against the devastating, high-fidelity distortion of Henze’s Ninth Symphony.

****1

Mischievous Pan at Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s French May

Christopher Halls, 30th May

French clarinettist Raphaël Sévère unearths beauty in Nielsen’s concerto and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta impress in two settings of Pan’s antics at the French May Festival.

****1

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Yawara Watanabe

Yawara Watanabe is a Tokyo based music writer with a special interest in chamber music. He has visited major international chamber music competitions all over the world, especially string quartets, and is now a member of a brain trust for the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and Festa. He has also toured a lot with chamber music groups in Asian countries. His another interest is modern opera and he has worked as one of the writers for “Operas after WW2” published by the New National Theater Japan, Tokyo.