Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) is in. The sound of his masterful Piano Quintet, as performed on October 9 at the Palais des Académies by the Ensemble Mendelssohn (Daniel Rubenstein, Anouk Lapaire, Gergely Kota, Johannes Burghoff and pianist Alessandro Cervino), still hung in the air and shortly thereafter it appeared again on the program of De Middagconcerten.
The familiar hall of the Musical Instruments Museum on the Kunstberg was packed. Chairs were pulled up. Anticipation was palpable. With reason. Five masters of their craft, five established figures: pianist Alexander Melnikov and violinists Marc Danel and Gilles Millet, violist Vlad Bogdanas, cellist Yovan Markovitch, together the Quatuor Danel. They replaced the planned violist Adèle Ginestet and pianist Nino Sené, who had fallen ill.
The String Quartet No. 1 from 1938 was performed first. Shostakovich was 32 years old when he wrote it and called it "springlike and cheerful". Youthful exuberance? Camouflage? Possibly both, for the Soviet regime had already been exerting pressure on him for two years to make music accessible to the masses through the use of simple language. And yes, from the opening notes the dissonances of the score were evident. They alternated with a broad melody, with short violin strokes, with an exuberant finale and with a cello part to make a point. I was far from the only one who noticed that. A question then for the charming French cellist Yovan Markovitch. He plays a Petrus Guarnerius from 1739 (Venice) and emphasized that Petrus was the older brother of the more famous Guarneri del Gesù, who immortalized himself with his 'Il Cannone' of Niccolo Paganini. The Moderato was a perfect fit for violist Vlad Bogdanas. In dialogue with the cello and with the violins of Marc Danel and Gilles Millet, this all too often underestimated instrument received the attention it deserves.
From four to five
What everyone was waiting for, the Piano Quintet, began with a resounding statement from pianist Alexander Melnikov. After an intense confrontation with the quartet as a whole and with the players individually, a naive melody gradually led to a poignant ensemble. A beautifully constructed Fugue determined the second movement. The hammering staccato playing of Melnikov in the grim Scherzo and the Finale made clear how at home he is in the music of Shostakovich. It is hardly surprising that his recording of Shostakovich's complete Preludes and Fugues was praised by BBC Music Magazine as one of the "50 Greatest Records of all time".
Two "flats" put a damper on the listening pleasure. Before the concert, new musical director Nicolas Dupont announced the death of Alexei Moshkov, concertmaster of the NOB, about which colleague Ludwig Van Mechelen had already published a touching In Memoriam. Towards the end, a string gave way under the intensity of Marc Danel, as if the deceased violinist was giving a sign...
