REVIEW: The St Petersburg String Quartet at Dillington House, by Heather Fawcett.

Not often is there the opportunity in this country to hear Russian chamber music played by internationally respected Russian musicians.

At Dillington House on Saturday night The St Petersburg String Quartet performed Tchaikovsky's second string quartet in F-major followed by Schubert's 'Death and the Maiden' quartet to a capacity audience.

The quartet, having stopped off in England while travelling from the USA to Russia, gave a spirited performance of the Tchaikovsky quartet.

This is a fairly early work (having been written immediately before the first piano concerto and between the second and third symphonies) although it carries many of the hallmarks of the composers later style containing as it does hints of things yet to come.

Alla Aranovskaya who plays a 1737 Milanese violin, leads this quartet virtuosically, her particularly strong well projected sound differing somewhat in tone quality from that of the other instruments in a way to which an English audience is unaccustomed. However, there was sensitive inner part playing when the darker tones of the viola and cello contributed much to the inimitable Russian character they portrayed in this music.

The Schubert quartet got off to a brisk start, and was particularly memorable for the performance of the chorale-like theme and variations of the Andante where the lower strings stole the show - beautifully controlled playing from Leonid Shukayev (cello), warmth of tone from the viola (Boris Vayner) and second violin (Alla Krolevich).

The final movement, which notably contains a complex fugal passage, particularly reflected the ambiguous nature of Schubert's music, at times seemingly happy but with almost frighteningly dark undertones.

The St Petersburg String Quartet gave us music from their native heath alongside music from Vienna.

In both there was much to enjoy and admire offering the rare chance to consider the differences in performance styles of players from different national traditions.

9:22am Tuesday 1st April 2008

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