Kelemen Quartet brings Hungarian fire to Auckland

By Simon Holden, 20 March 2014

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Reviewed at Auckland Town Hall: Great Hall, Auckland on 19 March 2014

Mozart, String Quartet no. 19 in C major "Dissonance", K465

Kodály, Serenade for two violins and viola, Op.12

Haydn, String Quartet no. 27 in D major, Op.20 no.4, Hob III:34

Bartók, String Quartet no. 4 in C major, Sz.91

Beethoven, String Quartet no. 9 in C major, "Razumovsky", Op.59 no.3 (Final movement only)

Kelemen Quartet

Newly-minted Festival Academy Budapest

Alexandra Ivanoff, 24th July

Playing repeatedly in my mind as I walked home on 24 July was the spine-chilling orchestral performance of the "Dance of the Knights" from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet in the Franz Liszt Academy’s superb Solti Hall.

***11

Beethoven, Schubert und eine Gänsemutter an der Festival Academy Budapest

Rolf Kyburz, 11th June

Das Kelemen-Quartett überzeugte mit leichter Artikulation, einem weichen Ton und ausgezeichneter, sprechender Agogik und Dynamik, perfekter Koordination. Es agierte aus einem Geist, mit einer Seele.

****1

Eroica: Riccardo Minasi and the WASO

Sandra Bowdler, 11th April

Guest conductor Riccardo Minasi leads the West Australian Symphony Orchestra with a program of old favourites, with outstanding contribution from trumpeter Jenna Smith

***11

Nelson Goerner shines with the CBSO and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody

Robert Gainer, 9th April

The CBSO present the work of three European émigré composers of the 1930s and 40s, who reimagined their musical influences with contrasting approaches and results.

****1

Chicago Symphony Orchestra music on death: whimper then bang

Graham Meyer, 9th April

Jakub Hrůša leads the CSO in pedestrian Janáček and Rachmaninov, but Strauss's Four Last Songs and Wagner's Tristan excerpts send audiences home deeply touched.

***11

Lintu, Kavakos and the SSO make the case for Shostakovich

Chang Tou Liang, 9th April

Has Shostakovich become the new Rachmaninov in Singapore? The SSO and Hannu Lintu show that he can be as popular as Rachmaninov.

*****

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Simon Holden

Simon is an operaphile based in Auckland, New Zealand. He wrote his dissertation on Japanese popular music. With a background in piano and classical music retail, he spends his time attending as much opera or vocal concert as he can and blogs at irishenceaway.blogspot.com.