Last Friday, in Warner Concert Hall, the New Hellenic Quartet, Greece’s premier chamber ensemble, performed a concert of Greek classical music. Comprised of violinists Georgios Demertzis and Dimitris Chandrakis, violist Chara Sira and cellist Apostolos Chandrakis, the concert presented an array of works by four prominent Greek composers from the twentieth century.
Assuming correctly that the listeners knew comparatively little about Greek classical music, first violinist Demertzis addressed the audience before the performance began and introduced some of the history of Greek classical music.
“We’ll try to present to you something like a panorama of Greek music for string quartet,” Demertzis said. The composers chosen to represent Greek music included N. Skalkottas, E. Riades, D. Mitropoulos and Y. Sicilianos.
The quartet played with fabulous ensemble and energy, leaving some in the audience exhausted at the end of each piece. The performers, however, maintained their level of energy and enthusiasm for the duration of the almost two-hour concert. Despite their often frenetic tempi, their tone production remained pure and each piece was infused with the appropriate character. Perhaps most valuable, however, was their communication with the audience; the relationship they created with the listeners was not one of performer-receiver, but rather one that allowed the audience a more active role in the music, giving the hearer a sense of belonging.
The first and last pieces on the concert were by Skalsottas, a student of Schoenberg.
The first piece was Skalsottas’ Quartet No. 3 (1935), which was built around series of chromatics traded among the four musicians. The second movement also provided short solo and duet passages, allowing each of the instrumentalists to be heard individually.
The other piece by Skalsottas was Five Greek Dances, which was reminiscent of Greek folk music and subtly suggested a Mediterranean flavor.
The second piece on the concert was Thema con variazioni in D minor by Riades, who Demertzis identified as the first real composer of the Greek national school. This particular piece developed very naturally and organically, at times growing hushed and then bursting into laughter. The moods the performers created in this piece were particularly effective; during a hushed passage, one almost needed to hold his or her breath to avoid disturbing the delicacy of the atmosphere created.
Third on the concert was Danse des Faunes Scene fantasque for string quartet by Mitropoulos, who is perhaps better known as the former conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Composed in the style of Berlioz, this charming piece cleverly suggested images of airy yet mischievous mythical creatures dancing in a Sylvan shade. The members of the quartet were obviously very much engaged with this piece, playing rather coyly and playfully and smiling all the while.
The next composer represented in the concert was Sicilianos; his Quartet No. 5, Op. 53 (1991) was the fourth piece of the concert. Sicilianos is still active as a composer and has written works specifically for the New Helenic Quartet.
The audience was awarded an encore performance of the third movement pasacaglia from a work entitled Ten Sketches. This final piece of the evening was somber in spirit, and though well performed brought the concert to a rather subdued, rather than jubilant, close.
The New Hellenic Quartet primarily focuses on presenting works by Greek composers.
Founded in 1991, the quartet has already been awarded the Distinguished Prize for Music from the Greek Critics for Music and Drama. They have performed in numerous international festivals and symposiums, including the Thessaloniki String Quartet Festival, the Italian Music Cyclus, the Vaughn Williams Festival and the “Schoenberg in Berlin” symposium. They have also released several CDs, primarily of Greek music, including the complete quartets of Nikos Skalkottas and Yorgo Sicilianos.