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February 11, 2008 | Enso String Quartet
PRESS QUOTES
"It didn’t take long for me to determine that I was privy to extraordinary talent...replete with enthusiasm and momentum and, drawing upon a winning combination of instinct and convention, they evoke not only a distinct personality, but also exhibit poise, coupled with an exceptional sense of vitality and elegance. The energy generated by these young musicians is obvious from the get-go, as is their commitment to the repertoire."
Fanfare Magazine
“…the Enso players filled the Coolidge Auditorium with glorious sonorities.”
“Alberto Ginastera's String Quartet No. 2, Op. 26, received a thrillingly athletic performance, with chords that came in rough packs and solid waves, a quiet roller coaster of notes in the "Presto Magico" movement, aching solos from violist Melissa Reardon in rare moments of repose, and a perpetual-motion "Furioso" finale that never let up.”
“…the quartet played Antonin Dvorak's String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 51, with impeccable ardor…”
“…the "Romanze" movement swelled with lyrical feeling and limpid harmonies, and the robust stride of the finale was a tribute both to the Stradivarius instruments and to the people playing them.”
The Washington Post
"unrelenting passion and energy...this group lives, breathes, and thinks as one."
The Press, New Zealand
"rhythmic élan...an edge-of-the-seat vitality few groups maintain throughout a performance."
Houston Chronicle
"There is a freshness and incisiveness about them...lyricism, style and expression as well as unobstrusive sophistication."
The Strad
"Their playing is neat, well balanced and lyrical, and they show a lively and intelligent engagement with the music."
Gramophone
“They also made me draw a small gasp...as the beautiful sound just seemed to lift from their instruments with no mechanical hindrance.”
“Just allow the music to exist without bow sounds, instrument sounds, without anything more than the hearts of the players breathing the music. How simple it sounds and how rarely is it done. "
Charleston Daily Mail
"Ensemble, pacing and intonation were of the highest caliber."
The Washington Post
"..the Ensos have that invaluable quality of making you listen."
Musicweb International
“The Enso's transparent, pure, weightless sound, its beautifully sustained lines and its moderation in matters of tempo and punctuation seemed altogether true to the Haydn aesthetic.”
San Antonio Express-News
"great confidence and verve"
Classics Today
"If you continue to play like this, you will never need my help."
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
FULL ARTICLES
November 13, 2007 | Houston Chronicle
The Enso String Quartet shows an irresistible vitality
Houston is growing and so is the arts scene, making conflicts inevitable. It's one thing to try to cover five concerts in a single weekend, as just happened. It's another when the two appealing ones butt heads.
Tuesday they were the Trio Con Brio Copenhagen, making its debut with the Houston Friends of Music, and the Enso String Quartet, returning to its former home base for a Menil Collection recital sponsored by Da Camera.
The selling point for the Enso was its program. The Copenhagen piano trio offered a pretty tame combination of Haydn, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn. Enso played a quartet by Ignace Pleyel, Alberto Ginastera's String Quartet No. 1 and Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F Major.
The Enso came to Houston several years ago as a graduate quartet in residence at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. It stayed on until earlier this year when it relocated to New York to upgrade its career. While it Houston, individually and collectively members played a huge range of events from education concerts to hard-core 20th-century music.
Pleyel (1757-1831) lived during the high point of turn-of-the-19th century Viennese classicism. A student of Haydn, he became famous as a Paris-based music publisher, piano maker and prolific composer. From the scads of quartets he wrote, the Enso recorded the six of Op. 2 for its well-received debut CD on Naxos.
From that set, the Enso played the one in B-flat Major. With only three movements, it was an exception to the genre, but it revealed an accomplished, often dramatic style that was engaging on the surface but somewhat shallow compared to the masters of the era. The cheery rondo assured that the music left listeners with a good impression.
The Enso set out the elements of its playing all evening: a warm ensemble sound, distinctive solo voices, a light aggressiveness that was clearly American in scope, and an easy-going communication that certainly won me over.
Ginastera's work was rhythmically intense, fueled by driving rhythms absorbed from his country's vibrant folk music, including that of the gauchos of the Argentine pampas. The exception to the seemingly nonstop energy came in the third movement, a haunting, moody segment based on a chord derived from the tuning of the guitar.
The Enso played the work with great élan and character, culminated by the rousing, joyful final movement.
That same sense of youthful conviction and communication made Ravel's familiar music equally enjoyable. As in the other two pieces, the Enso's playing wasn't so refined that it called attention to itself, but the vitality was infectious.
Charles Ward
October 14, 2007 | Rockford Register Star
Enso quartet combines expressive music, visual element
The nationally acclaimed Enso String Quartet opened the season for the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center with a strong performance Friday night in the sanctuary of Court Street United Methodist Church. The program included works by Joseph Hayden, Antonin Dvorak and a world premiere by Kurt Stallman.
The opening quartet was Hayden’s “Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 20, No. 1,” one of six written in 1772, known also as “The Great Quartets.”
The four artists displayed a fluid, seamless and precise presentation. Flawless observance to articulation with a passion for interpretation was characteristic throughout. Exceptional expressiveness in dynamics was evident in all three works.
Written in four movements, the Hayden quartet provided listeners insight into his transition from earlier quartets to those styled more in the coming Mozart and Beethoven era.
The first movement gave opportunity to experience the mellow voice of the cello in a more solo format with two violins and viola accompaniment, a new twist in concerto writing. The second movement, “Menuet,” contained more dissonance than would have been expected by Hayden.
Hayden always had an emotional and spiritual quality to much of his music, and the third movement appeared to capture much of that tenderness, more than in earlier works. The Enso members communicated well its inherent sensitivity.
Ending Hayden was the “Presto” finale, filled with syncopation and lively forward motion.
The second presentation was an audio-visual work by contemporary composer Stallman titled “SONA: Sounds of Houston: Wind, Rain, Trains.” It conveyed the sounds and sights of his Houston environment in a rather unusual aural format by the Enso strings and added “computer-generated and processed sounds, imagery and recordings taken from the environment” formatted by filmmaker Alfred Guzzetti. The effect was phenomenal.
Dissonance and very unusual, adventuresome and intentional harsh sounds on the strings produced the diesel horn blasts, the screeching of the train wheels, the wind and rain of storms that battered the city and the clickety-clack of the cars as they rode the rails. When strings were silent, there were videos of freight trains passing, scenery flashing by, troubled water from the storms and the highway with its steady stream of traffic.
To end the work, the sounds of the train gradually faded, the solo violin uttering the distant diminishing horn blasts from the engine.
The music was extremely expressive, capturing all the sounds in a very realistic and creative manner and performed with excellence by the Enso players.
After intermission, the quartet performed Dvorak’s “Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat Major, Op. 51.”
Much of the work reflected the Slavic style with dance, polka and romance all intertwined in the four movements. Each section exposed the splendid artistic abilities of each member of the quartet in their interpretation and execution.
Overall, the performance showed a passion and a sense of genuine love by the artists. They performed as four but as though they had one heart and mind. It was that clean, clear and precise.
The audience gave a standing ovation for enjoyment received and the Enso quartet responded with a brief encore.
Nate Bauer
October 01, 2007 | Charleston Daily Mail
Most of the audience at Christ Church United Methodist were politely and calmly enjoying the Enso String Quartet as it played Alberto Ginastera's String Quartet No. 1 in the opening concert for the Charleston Chamber Music Society. Not me.
With my eyes tightly closed, I was atop a roan stallion, galloping across the Pampas as I led the other gauchos in pursuit of the frightened and racing cattle.
That seems to be the effect that Ginastera's music has on me.
The driving syncopated rhythms, furious plucking and snapping of stringed instruments and the sounds that roared from the Enso quartet had me wildly racing along during its concert Saturday.
The thing is, this quartet of immensely talented players doesn't need me to try to point out any of the usual terms I usually have to use to let you know how strongly I like or dislike a performance. Cutting to the chase, these kids are dynamite.
They had me riding madly across the Pampas, didn't they?
They also made me draw a small gasp with the first notes that they played in Franz Joseph Hayden's Quartet in E-Flat Major, as the beautiful sound just seemed to lift from their instruments with no mechanical hindrance.
This is the way that our friends from the Berlin Symphony Quartet sounded last year.
Just allow the music to exist without bow sounds, instrument sounds, without anything more than the hearts of the players breathing the music.
How simple it sounds and how rarely is it done. The Dvorak Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat was as light as a feather and as civil as this composer always seems to be. Enso played together. Stayed together. And later that evening I found them gathered at Soho's restaurant where they ate together.
I hope that their sponsor, the Charleston Chamber Music Society, will see fit to book them again for next season, so we might bask in their glory for another evening of music.
Rick Justice
October 01, 2007 | The Charleston Gazette
The Enso played his (Haydn’s) Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, No. 1 smoothly, favoring a light touch over marked attacks while infusing the music with lots of creamy tone. The Menuet featured a sinuous pianissimo, which lent a courtly air. The slow movement was lyrical and intense with a very judicious use of vibrato. The final Presto — cue the rustic folk dancing — was fast and clean with accents that flitted like passing glances.
The Enso performance of his (Ginastera’s) Quartet No. 1 was a revelation. The violent shifting meters of the opening, an obvious borrowing from Argentine popular music, built an edge-of-the-seat drama that intensified as the piece unfolded. This rhythmic vitality was matched by vivid tonal colors ranging over the strings’ whole bag of tricks, harmonics, glissandos, playing next to the bridge, playing on the fingerboard and guitar-like strumming.
The cellist Richard Belcher’s extended solo in the third movement, later turned into a duet with the violist Melissa Reardon, brought a respite to the rhythmic drive without losing any emotional intensity. The finale had breakneck fiddling from Maureen Nelson and John Marcus.
The Enso found sweetness and amiability in the music (Dvorak Quartet in E flat, Op 51) and its shaping of the transitions in the “Dumka,” where the fast dance melts into the returning slow material, was pure elegance.
October 01, 2006 | Fanfare Magazine
Throughout his long and distinguished career, Ignaz Pleyel (1757–1831) composed a total of 57 string quartets, and by the time he wrote the half-dozen quartets that were engraved in 1784 by Graeffer in Vienna as op. 2, Haydn had already composed his ops. 20 and 33 sets, both of which expanded the scope and breadth of the form. Mozart was familiar with Pleyel’s work and it may have been Pleyel’s op. 2 that prompted Mozart to write his father, “You will find them [the quartets] worth the trouble. They are very well written and most pleasing to listen to. You will also see at once who [Haydn] was his master. It will be a lucky day for music if later on Pleyel should be able to replace Haydn.”
Indeed, the presence of Haydn is unmistakable in these works, although it is not as if he were guiding Pleyel’s quill, for these quartets are not knock-offs. Rather they are as annotator Allan Badley noted, “a remarkable achievement for a young composer and it is one of the cruel quirks of fate that works of such vitality and imagination could be forgotten for so long.” I add to Dr. Badley’s remarks that this music impresses immediately by way of its tunefulness, memorability, and tight, but never pedantic structure. It flows beautifully from page to page and movement to movement with the ease of a brook gently making its way down a hillside
The Enso String Quartet—an American ensemble, by the way—is made up of violinists Maureen Nelson and Tereza Stanislav, violist Robert Brophy, and cellist Richard Belcher. The quartet takes its name from a Japanese zen painting of a circle “that represents many things, perfection as well as imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation, the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life, and the fullness of the spirit.” In 2003, the group won the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and in the same year was awarded top prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs in Ohio. They have appeared in leading venues across the land including Lincoln Center and the Merkin Concert Hall (New York) and have been the guests of Bill McLaughlin on St. Paul Sunday Morning, heard nationwide on member stations of National Public Radio.
Lacking the first of the two Naxos discs that make up Pleyel’s op. 2, I placed this arrival in my player with no preconceptions as to what I might hear. It didn’t take long for me to determine that I was privy to extraordinary talent. The performances are replete with enthusiasm and momentum and, drawing upon a winning combination of instinct and convention, they evoke not only a distinct personality, but also exhibit poise, coupled with an exceptional sense of vitality and elegance. The energy generated by these young musicians is obvious from the get-go, as is their commitment to the repertoire. Vital and intellectually challenging, these curiosities repay the listener’s interest time after time by way of their memorable and affable nature.
Without doubt, these quartets stand their ground with similar works of Haydn and Mozart, and with advocacy this strong, they will certainly begin to emerge from musical oblivion, taking their long overdue place in the repertoire.
Michael Carter
April 01, 2006 | Gramophone
The Austrian composer Ignaz Pleyel, a year younger than Mozart, was a bit like a Classical-period Telemann. Not just a prolific and highly skilled composer, he was as well organized and successful businessman who founded a major publishing house and a piano factory. And rather as Telemann's reputation used to suffer next to that of Bach, history has usually thought to mention Pleyel only in unfavorable comparison to Haydn, his teacher.
Of course this is not really fair. The three quartets on this disc reveal a composer with a distinctive character of his own and a well directioned sense of form. Published in Vienna in 1784, they could easily be the works of Mozart referred to in a letter to his father as 'well written and pleasing to listen to'. With Mozart standing in as reviewer it may seem impertinent to add much but it is worth saying that these quartets , while lacking the ultimate depth of Haydn or a Mozart, offer something more than the simply 'pleasing'. The outer movements display strong features and the occasional surprising harmony or modulation, while the muted-string slow movements are richly, sometimes darkly, melodic.
They are performed with classically light touch by the young American-based Enso Quartet, who acquit themselves well on their first recording. Their playing is neat, well balanced and lyrical, and they show a lively and intelligent engagement with the music. This disc is worth a spin at the price.
Lindsay Kemp
March 01, 2006 | The Strad
These performances of the first three of Pleyel's Six Quartets op. 2, published in 1784 with a dedication to his mentor Haydn, represent an auspicious start to the Enso Quartet's recording career. There is a freshness and incisiveness about them that suggests a group of young players discovering the music for themselves, their reactions uncluttered by the weight of experience; and yet they demonstrate a natural feeling for Pleyel's lyricism, style and expression as well as unobstrusive sophistication.
First violinist Maureen Nelson is predominant throughout, nimble and technically assured in developmental passagework, notably in the energetic Allegro assai of no. 3, yet consistently intelligent and musical in shaping the melodic line, as in the muted Adagio of no. 2. Her colleagues accompany sympathetically and, when appropriate, skillfully blend in their contributions to the melodic and harmonic interest with unanimity of ensemble and musical purpose. Dramatic moments are characterised by incisive attack that avoids aggression, as in the first movement of no. 1 or some episodes of the rondo finale of no. 2. The minuet finales of nos. 1 and 3 are played with all the necessary stately grace; but there is no lack of gravitas when required, as in the Adagio opening of no. 3.
The recorded sound is bright, carefully balanced and closely focused in a resonant church acoustic. Mozart wrote to his father in 1784 that Pleyel's quartets 'are very well written and pleasing to listen to'. Who am I to disagree?
Robin Stowell
The Strad, March 2006
March 01, 2006 | Classics Today
Pleyel String Quartets op. 2 nos. 1-3
These three quartets appeared in 1784 with a dedication to Haydn, around the same time that Mozart was completing his set similarly in homage to the father of the string quartet. Mozart evidently knew these works and enjoyed them, but they are quite different in tone and technique from either Haydn or his young friend. Each piece has three movements, and there is no set rule as to what the character of each movement will be. For example, No. 3 (in G minor) begins with a slow movement, while No. 1 ends with a minuet. Their general character is lighter in substance than Haydn's Opp. 20 or 33, and worlds apart from Mozart's six avowedly serious and large-scale "Haydn" quartets. Still, the music is tuneful, well written, and quite enjoyable. Pleyel was perhaps Haydn's most talented pupil before Beethoven, and if he often seems to be copying his model in the cut of his themes, then he certainly chose a good model and was a skillful imitator.
Naxos is, in truth, doing music lovers a real favor in making so much music of the Classical period available on disc, and not just because the label is rescuing many fine works that collectors will enjoy. What these quartets show, for example, is that the large-scale, four-movement format that we now regard as standard thanks to Haydn (from Op. 9 on in his quartets), and later Mozart, was by no means the inviolable rule at the time. It's really quite remarkable just how much larger in scale and more emotionally generous in scope the music of this first great triumvirate of classical composers was, as compared to their contemporaries. This is less of a revelation with Beethoven and Mozart, whose depth is now taken for granted, than it is with Haydn, whose achievement is still often undervalued and misunderstood.
In any case, the Enso Quartet plays with great confidence and verve, not to mention excellent rhythm and admirably accurate intonation. This is good music, and in these performances the players have you believing in its quality at every point. Their powerful attack on the highly "Sturm und Drang" G minor quartet is particularly impressive. It's perhaps the most interesting work in the set, with a curious "Grazioso" finale that remains in the minor right up to the end. The sonics are also quite warm and very present. The remaining three quartets in Op. 2 also will be recorded by these players for Naxos, and I look forward to hearing them. Strongly recommended.
David Hurwitz
October 25, 2005 | Houston Chronicle
Enso Program and the sounds of silence
Circle in the Sky, the Enso String Quartet event benefiting AIDS Foundation Houston, could have been called James Turrell Meets John Cage Meets Mozart and Ravel.
Sunday's event at the Live Oak Friends Meeting House began with a "silent" viewing of Skyspace, the provocative Turrell installation that seems, on first notice, nothing more than an opening in the ceiling revealing the sky.
But as the American experimental composer John Cage taught listeners, there is no such thing as "silent" viewing. Every space and occasion has its own ambient noise. Viewing Skyspace was no different...
The Enso, whose name comes from the Japanese zen painting of a circle, did its part to bridge the halves with unusual opening music: Fantasias Nos. 6 and 7 by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell.
In performing style, particularly the absence of vibrato, the quartet created a vinegary spareness right for the moment. Purcell's plain harmonies, simple, brisk counterpoint and brief form didn't demand complex listening.
Mozart's Quartet in D Minor, K. 421 added that complexity, while retaining a sense of musical discipline through its Classical style.
Here the Enso's rhythmic élan emerged clearly. Interior elements, such as repeating notes and chords, had an edge-of-the-seat vitality few groups maintain throughout a performance. I particularly liked the sense of drama when the Enso members held single notes as long as they dared before sending the music on with careening but controlled energy.
The musicians applied that sense of pace and rhythm to larger segments of music, as well. They unfailingly shaped and finished phrases and small sections with grace.
In Ravel's Quartet in F Major, the quartet impressively heightened the color, accents and special effects that make the piece such a striking and original work.
Charles Ward
August 03, 2005 | Town Topics/Princeton
Princeton University Summer Series Closes With Another Precise and Elegant Ensemble
Enso String Quartet, the last of the chamber ensembles to appear in the Princeton University Summer Concert series, derives its name from the Japanese zen painting of the circle which represents many things, including (as described in their biography) "perfection and imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation, the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life, and the fullness of the spirit." However, their concert on Wednesday night at Richardson Auditorium was more European than Japanese in theme, and Russian in particular, as the quartet performed music of Ignaz Josef Pleyel, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Ludwig van Beethoven. The concerts in the Summer Series this year have explored a wide range of ensembles and playing styles, and the Ensô String Quartet demonstrated just how sublime a string quartet can be.
Ignaz Josef Pleyel was a student of Haydn, and composed in most genres of the late 18th century, ranging from symphonies to music for the hurdy-gurdy. He was firmly committed to the string quartets of Haydn, and his own String Quartet in B-flat Major continues the same structure and techniques which Haydn had brought to perfection.
From the opening Allegro, the Enso Quartet's sound was very unified and not overly loud, this ensemble commands the attention of its audience by making them listen. The rich harmonies of Pleyel's music clearly mark a path from the Classical to Romantic periods, and the quick shifts to minor keys were subtly sprung upon the audience by the quartet. Second violinist John Marcus brought a sharper and brighter sound to the ensemble than first violinist Maureen Nelson, and cellist Richard Belcher demonstrated a very clean and clear tone. Joined by violist Rob Brophy, the quartet moved effortlessly through sections of both paired instruments and full ensemble playing in the final Rondo.
The concert took a Russian turn with Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in c minor. A quartet in which half the movements are in the tempo of Largo might seem ominous, but the members of Ensô found musical variety and great diversity of sound within the five movements. Like many Shostakovich works, this piece tells a story, in this case inspired by the wartime remains of Dresden, which moved Shostakovich to dedicate the Quartet to "the victims of fascism and war," including himself. The opening cello theme, musically spelling Shostakovich's name and repeated fugally by the rest of the quartet, was played with an intensity and nuance. The quartet's playing of this particular section was without vibrato and full of pathos and tragedy. The players were not afraid of the silences and quiet within the piece, and the rather twisted Allegretto middle movement was full of musical effect.
Beethoven's String Quartet in F Major, Opus 59, No. 1 may not seem to have any Russian connection by its name, but it is in fact one of the "Razumovsky" quartets, dedicated to the Russian ambassador of Beethoven's time. The opening Allegro movement was melodic and full of the sforzandos which characterize Beethoven's music, and the quartet once again showed its strength of mellifluous playing between paired instruments. In the second movement, the interplay among the two violins and the viola could have been one instrument, their tone was so similar and the music flowed from instrument to instrument. This quartet excels at playing almost imperceptibly, thereby drawing the audience into their musical scope as they huddle together. A lively Russian theme marked the last movement as the quartet closed the concert.
Of all the chamber ensembles which appeared on the Summer Concert Series this year, this ensemble may be the youngest - founded in 1999. Making a career as a chamber ensemble artist is a tough road these days, but the Summer Series brought to Princeton a number of ensembles which demonstrated their potential for durability in the performance world and hopefully long concert lives.
Nancy Plum
November 19, 2004 | The News-Times CT
NEWTOWN, CT — Whether the Enso String Quartet realized it or not, their program on Sunday for the Newtown Friends of Music in Edmond Town Hall had overtones of a wedding; their program exemplified the bridal admonition to have "something old, something new; something borrowed, something blue."
The "something old" was a string quartet by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809); the "something new" was the "String Quartet" by Carmel, N.Y. resident John Corigliano (b. 1938). Samuel Barber (1910-1981) borrowed Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach" for his Opus 3, and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) definitely had to be "blue" when he wrote his first string quartet, for the music is not exactly uplifting. The Enso Quartet, now in residence at Rice University, was born in 1999 from the friendship of four international graduate students at Yale: violinists Maureen Nelson (USA) and Tereza Stanislav (Canada), violist Robert Brophy (England), and cellist Richard Belcher (New Zealand).
The four works programmed tested the quartet's ability to perform a wide variety of musical styles and they passed the tests admirably. Haydn's "String Quartet No. 27 in D Major" is one of the more reflective of this composer. who brought the string quartet to its pinnacle of form. Warmth pervaded all the playing, especially by cellist Belcher in the gypsy-like third movement. Lead violinist Nelson proved an able leader for the group, both aurally and visually, here and throughout the concert.
John Corigliano, regarded as one of this country's major composers, wrote his only string quartet in 1995 and stated himself that the work "strained past the boundaries of the string quartet." The 40-minute work strains the audience also. The structure of the work is one of balance. The outer two movements of the five-movement work — prelude and postlude — are similar, performed with muted strings. The first notes seem to emerge from nothingness; the quartet's final notes similarly disappear into the great void. In between, it seems the composer tried everything he could think of — from dramatic rhythmic changes to yelping sounds — as a challenge to performers and audience alike.
The central movement is a nocturne, with the highest possible notes audible to the ear emerging from the strings. The two movements that frame the central nocturne are a scherzo and a fugue. In the scherzo, pulsating tones from brusque bowing produce sounds seemingly left over from Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." The fugue uses a theme that is clearly an approximation of the funereal "Dies Irae," a favorite of composers from Berlioz to Rachmaninoff.
The entire work left me a bit perplexed; it seemed to be a series of episodes with no heart. Although it is my first hearing of this work, I believe the Enso instrumentalists gave a worthy performance. Corigliano must think highly of his string quartet, for in 2001 he turned it into his "Symphony No. 2," for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in music.
Barber's "Dover Beach" puts to music the most famous poem of Matthew Arnold, the British Victorian poet. Baritone Thomas Meglioranza was the soloist. Dressed all in black, as were the four instrumentalists, he centered himself between them. I would very much like to hear more of this singer for his voice was warm in tone and clear in enunciation.
Here, he let the words speak for themselves, but a little more dramatic embellishment seemed needed. The poem's final words have special meaning today: "And we are here as on a darkling plain, Swept with confused alarms of struggle and fight, Where ignorant armies clash by night."
Brahms did not write his first string quartet to be interrupted by the Town Hall fire siren (yes, the players finally had to pause), or later to be augmented by the bells of the town clock striking 5 p.m. (If these had happened during the Corigliano work, no one would have been surprised.)
This first of three string quartets by Brahms finds him at his sincerest, though somewhat cheerless. Only in the third movement, where a trio portion emerged in a jolly waltz mood, did he break out of his pensive world. Still, it was a pleasure to hear the interpretation of the Enso Quartet, full of energetic melodic playoffs between the high and low strings, a performance ever cohesive, ever listenable. In this work, as in all the others, violist Brophy and violinist Stanislav provided those vital inner musical voices in exemplary manner.
Staying an extra day, on Monday the Enso Quartet worked with music students at Newtown High School as part of the Friends' School Outreach Program. From what the large audience heard on Sunday, the fortunate students had interaction with one of the finest of today's young string quartets.
Jim Pegolotti
September 01, 2004 | The Strad
“Justifiably, the prize for best performance [of Banff’s pièce de concert] went to the Enso Quartet for its totally committed, imaginative interpretation that emphasized contrasts of mood, dynamics and articulation."
November 16, 2003 | Pittsburg Post Gazette
Sunday in Pittsburgh. A concert of chamber music or another Steelers game in which the home team gets pounded? The choice for me wasn't easy.
The case for the music, to be played by the Enso Quartet in the pleasant surroundings of the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, with a program including Mozart, Beethoven and a 1994 composition by Joan Tower, turned largely on three impulses.
One was the grudging admission that I actually like chamber music. The second was that listening to it lowers my blood pressure. A quick nap would be possible under either option. The third was the yearning need, amidst the banality of one's daily activities, to feel more civilized.
The case for the Steelers turned on the ever-young optimism of the team's fans that it couldn't lose six straight. The Bus will run; Maddox won't remind us just how mediocre he was before last year. Besides, Pittsburgh is football; it isn't string quartets.
Wrong. The audience at the concert was SRO, an eclectic group 450 strong. The quartet, bright young people brought here by the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, played difficult music extremely well.
The crowd at the football game, estimated at 59,000, started out grumpy, but a snappy game and the final score (28-15, Steelers) eventually made it very much worth seeing. Antwaan Randle El's running is high art in itself.
At the concert intermission, a handful of people still nursing doubts about their choice for the afternoon whipped out to their cars to get the score. By then, the home team was ahead, 21-3.
When I ran back in and eagerly reported this heavy portent, I was met with an, "Oh, Dan," which contained the unstated but clearly implied, "How could you be so Pittsburgh?" I thought of invoking the trolls who live in the mine shafts under the city to swallow her up, but I only smiled.
The point would be that we -- Pittsburghers -- are capable of juggling two appetites, chamber strings and gridiron grit, on a Sunday afternoon. Both activities reflect refined tastes. The two together suggest a split personality.
But, given the same choice, world-class music or hometown football, what would Mozart do?
Dan Simpson
July 30, 2003 | The Press/New Zealand
Playing as One
It is a brave group of musicians who choose this month to present a concert in Christchurch without being part of the arts festival, but the Enso Quartet did precisely that to an enthusiastic audience.
As luck would have it, they also went up against the All Blacks playing Australia, but then that gave three-quartets of the group an insight into the life Downunder. Not so for Christchurch cellist Richard Belcher, making a welcome return to New Zealand and it was great to hear him back again on his home turf.
The quartet showed us why they're one of the most highly acclaimed young ensembles in the States. The program of Mozart's D major quartet K575, Schumann's lyrical and impressive A major and then Beethoven's ground-breaking Opus 131 in C sharp minor was well planned.
The episodic nature of the Schumann, and hence the unpredictability, foreshadowed the Beethoven extremely effectively. A heady mix indeed, and what unrelenting passion and energy Enso brought to these works, coupled with a truly fantastic ability to communicate within the ensemble and with their audience!
The character of the quartet changes with the leadership. In an unusual move (though not for this quartet) violinists Maureen Nelson and Tereza Stanislav switched roles, Stanislav leading for the Mozart and Beethoven and Nelson for the Schumann and the exciting tango demanded as an encore.
Both are fine leaders with entirely different styles; Stanislav has a intense lyricism in her playing and authoritative direction, while Nelson displays a strong physical presence and power ideal for for rhythmic music, such as the syncopation of the first movement of the Schumann and the robust finale.
Underpinning this was the high degree of intuition and understanding displayed by violist Robert Brophy and Belcher, who work together extremely well. Exchanges within the quartet were seamless, and one really senses that this group lives, breathes, and thinks as one. Most definitely a name to watch, particularly as they play Carnegie Hall next April.
Patrick Shepherd
August 20, 2002 | La Nacion/Costa Rica
"The Enso Quartet’s playing was lucid and penetrating, combining lyricism and rigor…reflective and concentrated.”
August 16, 2001 | San Diego Reader
"Overtly dramatic….exciting intensity…the Mendelssohn Op 44, No 2 was intelligently and sensitively played.”
July 01, 2001 | The Ann Arbor News
"The Haydn. Op. 74, No. 1, that closed the first half got vibrant treatment from the Enso Quartet…. Their crisp, incisive playing - with just the right quotient of sass in the final 'Vivace,’ was a pleasure."
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