Jupiter String Quartet

[richidoo]

I saw Jupiter in Raleigh on Sunday. The concert was incredible. They played the final quartets of Mendolssohn, Britten and Beethoven's last quartet, #16. It was the last thing he wrote, totally deaf, knowing he would die soon. He died insane of lead poisoning. How this work could have come out of him is of the greatest miracles in music. Actually, I played a short section of it at our last G2G, the slow string music was the 3rd movement, and Beethoven's own epitaph. When it started playing, I noticed all the talking suddenly stopped and everybody listened intently until we changed it. So beautiful, and the Ushers held nothing back, that was my highlight of the meet. The music is tragically sad and simultaneously humorous and inspirational, light years ahead of anything else written at that time, and even modern composers have trouble emulating what he accomplished.

After the concert I listened to that Prazak Quartet version of it in the car with only 5 minutes separation. A bunch of German men playing it very bold and masculine in a big reverberant hall, close miked with really good equipment. It was very different sound and feel, and not really as well played as the Jupiter version which was much more sensitive to the historic significance of the piece. The tragedy was sadder and the joy was higher. All chamber music everywhere drawns on this quartet, and they really did it justice.

Jupiter has two sisters, one of whom is married to the cellist. They are very tight and the flow of love and communication was amazing. Eye contact was not excessive, it was just relaxed and natural, they just played, perfectly. The music they selected was awesome. I had never heard Mendolssohn sound this ballsy and sarcastic. I had never heard any Britten chamber music, but it was very innovative and interesting, 5 movements, all of them felt too short! My kids were laughing at some of the effects he used.

The cool thing about this series put on by Raleigh Chamber Music Guild is general seating, so I can sit within 10 feet of the players. It is cool to hear the world's best players at microphone distance, but with no electronics in-between.
Rich