Echoes of Youth: Octets from the Belcea and Ébène Quartets at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall’s smaller Zankel Hall became the stage for a rare musical convergence on Thursday night. Two of the world’s foremost string ensembles – the Belcea Quartet and Quatuor Ébène, both founded decades ago – came together for a special performance of two string octets: one renowned, the other lesser-known. Both Mendelssohn’s Octet in E flat major, Op. 20, and Enescu's Octet in C majorOp. 7 were composed by exceptionally young musicians – 16 and 19 years old, respectively – and both share a spirit of exuberance and formal ambition which was eloquently brought to life.

Normally, Mendelssohn’s inscribed directions – “This Octet must be played by all the instruments in the manner of a symphony” – become especially clear in the energetic Finale, where each instrument contributes an individualized voice. In this rendition, however, the dynamic range of the Andante, more characteristic of a large ensemble and enhancing the dramatic effect, revealed the intent of the composer’s instruction much earlier.

The group, with members of the Quatuor Ébène taking the first chairs, highlighted not only the tremendous inventiveness, skill and confidence with which the teenage composer tackled complex compositional challenges, but also the surprising spiritual maturity of a 16-year-old. The work is often noted for the airy, diaphanous textures in the Very cheerful – foreshadowing the elfin magic of his Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a gracefulness brought vividly to life by the ensemble’s delicate playing. Nevertheless, the aforementioned Adagio was imbued with Schubert-like melancholia, and the opening movement, despite its apparent ebullience, contained many dark corners suggesting that the cultivated young composer might have been a reader of the Brothers Grimm’s Household Tales.

When Mendelssohn conceived his Octet, he had no real models to follow. Enescu’s Octet, with its soaring unison opening and extensive use of counterpoint, unmistakably recalls Mendelssohn’s innovative score. Yet 75 years had passed. Enescu expands on Mendelssohn’s thematic development, weaving cyclically recurring themes that unify the work. His soundscape transcends late Romanticism as decisively as Schoenberg’s Transfigured nightcomposed just one year earlier, whose echoes intriguingly insinuate themselves into the second movement, “Très fougueux’”.

All the intricacies of Enescu’s Octet were beautifully brought to life through the evening’s sensitive interplay between the interpreters, led by Corina Belcea. Born in Romania and a student of Ștefan Gheorghiu, a revered Romanian violin teacher who was himself a protégé of Enescu, Belcea played this music with a unique sensibility, inspiring the entire ensemble to express the same depth of feeling and enthusiasm. Several exchanges between the first violin and first viola (Krzysztof Chorzelski) were marked by a blend of tenderness and intensity. The ensemble’s overall cohesion – evident both in the unisons and moments of transition – surpassed the one achieved in their performance of Mendelssohn. The themes, reappearing in varied rhythmic guises, emerged naturally from the intricate musical tapestry, while the polyphony was never overemphasized.

Finding an encore for a string octet is no small feat, but the artists rose to the occasion with an inspired choice: In Paradisethe last movement of Fauré’s Requiemarranged by Raphaël Merlin, the Ébène’s former cellist. Marking the centennial of Fauré’s death and his legacy as Enescu’s professor, the rendition captured the movement’s elegiac quality – solemn and contemplative yet imbued with hope – and left the audience deeply moved.

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