Jerusalem Quartet perfect Schumann, Schubert works

By Eileen Wingard

Eileen Wingard
Eileen Wingard

LA JOLLA, California  — There are rare occasions when a concert seems so perfect, so moving, so beautiful, that we cannot imagine hearing the works played any better.
Such was the definitive, pinnacle performance of the Jerusalem Quartet at Sherwood Hall last Saturday night, Feb. 21,  presented by the La Jolla Music Society.

The group is made up of three former USSR natives, Alexander Pavlovsky, and Sergei Bresler, violins, Kyril Zlotnikov, cello, and La Jolla-born, Israeli, Ori Kam, viola. They performed quartets by Schumann and Schubert, each written as their last works in this genre.

Schumann was 32 years old when he composed his String Quartet opus 41 # 3. A dozen years later, he was committed to an insane asylum, where he spent the final two years of his life. Schubert was battling tertiary stage syphilis when he wrote the String Quartet #14 in D minor, known as Death and the Maiden. In this work, he seemed to foresee his impending death, which came five years hence.

Schumann’s work, although serious, and with a theme and variation movement instead of the usual ¾ dance movement, is uplifting music with little trace of sadness or depression. From the opening musical sigh, the first movement flowed effortlessly. The cellist provided a strong, expressive lower line during the entire evening.

In the fugal variation of the second movement, each voice came forth boldly, asserting its individuality.
The third movement, Adagio molto, showcased the golden sound of Ori Kam’s viola, and the finale brought the foursome to a rousing climax.

The introduction to the first movement of the Death and the Maiden Quartet opened with a dramatic fortissimo unison and a triplet figure that agitated during the entire work. Sudden dynamic contrasts created shifting moods.
The slow movement was constructed in theme and variations form, with Schubert’s song, Death and the Maiden serving as the theme. In several variations, the first violin played in the highest reaches of his instrument with the same sweet, natural phrasing as in the lower register. The second violinist brought lovely prominence to the variation in which he was featured.

The third movement, a Scherzo, generally, a jovial movement in a major key, was, instead, in a minor key for the two outer sections, switching to major only for the middle trio.

The last movement, a Rondo, was a tarantella with breakneck speeding dotted rhythms for the recurring rondo theme and an even faster prestissimo final coda in a minor key, reflecting the tragic conclusion. With the exciting exuberance of the Jerusalem Quartet, however, it also sounded like an affirmation of life.

The three Russian-born musicians and their founding violist, Israeli-born Amihai Grosz, met at the Jerusalem
Rubin Academy of Music and Dance. Both violinists, Alexander Pavlovsky and Sergei Bresler, were born in the Ukraine and studied there before immigrating to Israel in 1991. Kyril Zlotnikov was born in Minsk, Belarus, where he took lessons before immigrating to Israel. They all have soloed with orchestras and teach. Their founding violist, Amihai Grosz, is now the principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic.

The current violist of the Jerusalem Quartet, Ori Kam, replaced Grosz in 2009. Prior to joining the Jerusalem Quartet, Kam had an active career as a soloist and chamber music player. He has performed under the auspices of the La Jolla Music Society during previous seasons.

He comes from a musical family. His mother, Rachel Kam, is a  violist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and his sister, Sharon Kam, who now resides in Hannover, Germany, is a highly acclaimed clarinet soloist and recording artist.

I remember Ori since he was born. His parents and sister were in San Diego while his father, Zvi Kam, a chemist at the Weizmann Institute in Rohovoth, was doing post-graduate work at UCSD.

His mother, Rachel, and I played together in the La Jolla Chamber Orchestra. One Pesach, while the Kams were here, the family attended a seder in my home.

All four members of the Jerusalem Quartet have been scholarship recipients of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and gratefully acknowledge it on their websites and in their programs.

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Wingard is a retired violinist of the San Diego Symphony and a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.  Your signed comment may be posted in the space provided below or sent to eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com

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