Performing quartets by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven in London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Rome.
Could there be a better job than being first violinist with the renowned Tokyo String Quartet?
“I don’t think so,” said Martin Beaver, the Tokyo’s first violinist, from his home in Dobbs Ferry, New York. “I do particularly like to travel. I certainly love seeing new places, meeting new people, enjoying the local food. And this is not to mention the fact that I’m playing arguably the best repertoire in the world of music.”
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the group’s founding at New York’s Juilliard School of Music. And their first tour of their anniversary year takes them from coast to coast then across the Pacific to a residency in Toyama, Japan.
Next Wednesday, the high flying Tokyos touch down in Hamilton. Though they’ve played here twice since Beaver joined the group in 2002, this will be the first time they’ll appear at Hillfield Strathallan College. The Winnipeg born, Hamilton raised Beaver attended Grades 9 through 12 at Hillfield where his father, John, taught French and conducted the choir among other things.
The Tokyo’s program will include Mendelssohn’s A Minor Quartet op. 13, Bartok’s Sixth Quartet, and Beethoven’s Quartet op. 18 no. 3. The latter work has been released on CD along with the five other op. 18 quartets on the harmonia mundi label. Last September in Japan, the group finished recording Beethoven’s op. 74 and op. 95 quartets, plus the later quartets.
“Our approach to Beethoven, even since the earlier days of the Tokyo Quartet, I’d say is a little bit leaner, a little bit cleaner,” explained Beaver. “In terms of the sound, certainly in the early quartets, we’re definitely not looking for a lush, Romantic (era) kind of sound. We’re really trying to capture the spirit of a young Beethoven. With all that we know these days of performance practice in those days, we feel like we’re not doing the music any favours if we adopt a Romantic approach sound wise.”
Certainly one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Tokyo’s sound is the mastery each player has of his particular instrument. In this case, four Stradivari once owned by the nineteenth century virtuoso, Nicolo Paganini, now on loan to the group courtesy of the Nippon Foundation. A very conservative estimate at the combined value of this quartet of Strads is US $10 million.
When Beaver first joined the group, he was playing the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on loan to him from the Canada Council Instrument Bank. (That instrument is now on loan to Canadian violinist Yi-Jia Susanne Hou.)
“They’re quite different in character,” said Beaver of the del Gesù and the Strad.“They’re both powerful and both generous in the way that they afford different colours. I would say that the Guarneri is more of an earthy kind of sound. Somehow, the Strad is a little more airborne, a little more transcendent. You don’t really get the feeling that you can completely dig in.”
But playing on one violin is not the same as playing on the next. “The big adjustment when I started playing the Strad was having to negotiate what I wanted out of the violin using the method that the Strad would like the best,” said Beaver. “If you press on a Strad, it won’t necessarily give you a sound. Very often, it’ll choke up and it won’t produce a sound. You have to learn how to produce a sound freely to get the kind of sounds you sometimes need. For instance, in Bartok, there are some sections which are quite brutal, and somehow, given that, you have to negotiate with the Strad to get that. Whereas with the Guarneri, somehow if you just press or squeeze it’ll produce that kind of sound. I might venture to say that Guarneris, objectively speaking, are easier to play.”
Beaver claims that there’d be noticeable differences in the Tokyo’s sound were he to play an instrument other than the Paganini Strad. “I think public opinion is probably that now that I am playing a Strad, we do achieve a much better blend.”
Thanks to Crescendo Concerts, you can hear the Tokyo’s blend Wednesday, January 21 at 8 p.m. in Hillfield Strathallan’s Artsplex, 299 Fennell Ave W. Tickets are $30, senior $25, student $20. Call 905-389-1367 ext. 201.
Next week is a Baroque week in McMaster University’s Convocation Hall. On Tuesday, January 20 at 12:30 p.m., the Middlesex Singers give a free concert. Next Friday at 8 p.m., Les Voix Humaines, (Susie Napper, Margaret Little and guest soprano Monika Mauch) sing music by Dowland, Marais, and others. Tickets are $17, senior $12, student $5. On Sunday, January 25 at 4 p.m., Les Boréades de Montréal perform a Beatles Baroque concert. Tickets are $20. Call 905-525-9140 ext. 24246.
