online concert review: Tetzlaff Quartet

This one was sponsored by Cal Performances, with the Tetzlaff Quartet from Germany, in Germany because of the virus, and not live but recorded last week, but they pretended as if it were live. The intermission video was a time-lapse of the upper Zellerbach lobby, but I hope they hadn't planned on holding the actual concert there if it were real. Chamber music goes in Hertz, please.

What attracted me to this concert was the awesome program: Opp. 130/133 and 132, the two most monumental and difficult of Beethoven's quartets. I'd never heard them put together like this before. I had some problems with the sound quality - more on that below - but the performances had me riveted throughout.

They were actually rather different. The Tetzlaffs approached Op. 130 with gravity. Even the lighter inner movements were given the same weight and seriousness as the first movement and the Grosse Fuge, as a result of which the piece expanded and felt even vaster and more all-encompassing than it otherwise would.

Op. 132 was more textured and varied. The Andante interludes in the Heilige Dankgesang were so warm and tender, and the final appearance of the Adagio so emotionally fulfilled, as to make an ideal rendition of the movement. There were other bright spots, particularly the march which was almost as off-kilter as Op. 130's danza tedesca, which is supposed to be that way. Growls from the inner instruments in the finale likewise stood out. It made a great conclusion.

I put my good headphones on to listen to this, but the sound nevertheless seemed a little hollow and stale. It definitely wasn't the performers, nor could it have been the venue, which was wood-lined, so it must have been in the recording or transmission. That, and a few pops in the playback, aside, it was a good recording. A separate microphone for each instrument assured that each could be heard individually. All around it was pretty satisfying.