Remarkable new work for Chinese instrument terrific for chamber music

by David Gordon Duke

Vega String Quartet makes an exciting local debut in a definitely winter-weight program

Vega String Quartet
Music by Mozart, Shostakovich and Wen
Chan Centre, July 8, 2006

Conventional wisdom dictates that programming for the summer months should have a somewhat lighter touch than the regular season. Performing under the auspices of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Vega String Quartet chose to make their local debut last weekend in an exciting and definitely winter-weight program: Mozart, Shostakovich,and a remarkable new work for traditional er-hu and string quartet by contemporary Chinese composer Wen Dequing.

Mozart’s F major Quartet K. 590 instantly defined this ensemble’s precision and focus. Their sound is not especially large but well matched and fresh. First violin Weiwei Le led with an exquisite, sweet tone but exacting authority. In the complex final Allegro, the players delineated Mozart’s particularly intricate textures with grace and vitality.

Beyond being the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, 2006 is also the centenary of Soviet composer Dmitry Shostakovich, whose Eighth Quartet (dedicated “"to the victims of fascism and war”) made up the second half of the program.

The Vega players found their own way to match the intensity of this angry elegy to their individual playing styles. An edgy transparency in the opening and closing sections and a compelling presentation of the work’s often bitter ironies established their provocative and decidedly untraditional way of presenting this difficult, even distressing, music.

Despite the quality of both the Mozart and Shostakovich performances, the highlight of the evening proved to be the “Little Cabbage” Variations of Wen Dequing, featuring the brilliant playing of er-hu virtuoso Jun Rong.

On the West Coast we've become very familiar with fusion works which attempt to blend musical cultures. Marrying the characteristic sound of the er-hu with that of the string quartet presents a complex musical problem: Wen’s solution was inventive and inspired. Completely avoiding any self-conscious exoticism or East-meets-West cuteness, Wen leaves listeners with that rare sensation of hearing music that is both logical and inevitable, neither faddish nor calculating.

Wen’s piece is for quartet and er-hu because no other instrumental combination could possibly reflect his strikingly original vision. The result is nothing less than an extraordinary addition to the chamber music repertoire.

The Vancouver Sun
11 July 2006

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