Arts & Events

On Sunday afternoon, November 10, the Danish String Quartet presented a well-planned concert at Hertz Hall under the auspices of Cal Performances. The program consisted of works chosen for their interrelatedness. First heard was Johann Sebastian Bach’s Fugue No. 24 in B minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier. This was followed by Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130, with the Grosse Fugue finale, which borrows music from Bach’s B minor fugue. After intermission, the Danish String Quartet performed Alfred Schnittke’s String Quartet No. 3, which offers reminiscences of Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue.  

The Grammy nominated Danish String Quartet was recently proclaimed by Musical America as 2020 Ensemble of the Year. Comprised of violinists Frederik Øland and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violist Asbjørn Nørgaard, and cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, the Danish String Quartet is noted for its breathtaking precision combined with joyful spontaneity. These characteristics were very much in evidence in their Hertz Hall concert, perhaps especially in their interpretation of Schnittke’s Quartet No. 3, which in addition to its roots in Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue also quotes Orlando di Lasso’s 16th century Stabat Mater and Dmitri Schostakovich’s signature DSCH motif.  

Of course, in such a program the Beethoven Op. 130 Quartet occupies the center of attention; and in the Danish String Quartet’s interpretation of this monumental work the fifth movement, the Cavatina, was the center of gravity. Rarely, if ever, in classical music has there been a more solemn expression of grief than this Cavatina. Beethoven told a friend he was in tears as he wrote every bar of this music; and he burst into tears even talking about it.  

If we look for the source of this grief, I suggest there is a clue in the music that precedes the Cavatina, the movement called Alla danza tedesca/In the style of a German dance. This music starts out as a joyful rustic dance tune, and we can almost picture a group of villagers dancing in a circle to this tuneful music. Yet, at a certain point, this lighthearted tune suddenly slows down and comes apart. It is almost as if Beethoven, standing apart and witnessing this dance, could appreciate the music and the village sense of community that animates such a dance. But Beethoven must also have been well aware that in his own life, there was, alas, no such sense of community. His hopes of love and marriage had been repeatedly quashed, he was now deaf, and he felt increasingly alone in his quest for the highest musical expression. Thus, as I see it, the transition from the joy and spontaneity of the beginning of the Alla danza tedesca movement, then to its sudden breakdown, ushers in the deeply felt grief of Beethoven’s Cavatina.  

After the pain and despair of the Cavatina, Beethoven sought music that might offer him, and perhaps him alone, a sense of reaffirmation. So he wrote as a Finale the immortal Grosse Fugue, going back, as it were, to Bach, as the ultimate source of classical music. The fugue itself is full of Sturm und Drang, a constantly rising and falling complexity bordering on chaos, until it eventually bursts forth in a triumphant affirmation of the worthiness of struggle in life. To me, this is Beethoven at his very best. And in this performance the Danish String Quartet effectively brought to the fore all the anguish that went into Beethoven’s masterful composition.  

As an encore the Danish String Quartet performed a short piece by Carl Neilson.