TURICUM string quartet in the Belvédère of the Ghent Book Tower.

A concert at an exceptional location, the Belvédère of the Ghent Book Tower. The Turicum Quartet from Zürich is formed by violinists Jiska Lambrecht (Belgium) and Karolina Miśkowiec (Poland), violist Amir Liberson (Israel) and cellist Maura Rickenbach (Switzerland). Turicum is incidentally the Latin name of the city Zürich, which in antiquity was an important trading hub. They have only been playing together for two years, and they already have an impressive prize, the Kiwanis Music Prize. At the Hochschule der Künste in Zürich they are coached by the renowned Ilya Gringolts. In a varied programme, the Ghent audience can judge how good they really are: Beethoven op.18 no.6, the first string quartet by Szymanowski and the fourth by Béla Bartók.

The Belvédère, the book tower and surrounding site have been completely restored over the past few years. The marble gleams again as before, the parquet of tropical wood shines again as it did half a century ago. Beethoven's sixth quartet from op. 18 is the last of his early quartets. Beethoven as a child of his time, descendant of Haydn, but oh so energetically Beethoven as he sounds already in his early work. Clever ensemble playing, sometimes they play together so serenely and cleanly that it sounds like a little organ. So serene that it sometimes sounds a bit ethereal. Here and there a bit more aplomb, I think when alto and cello remain somewhat too much in the background. But still, the string quartet is one of the most difficult genres in terms of ensemble playing, but you wouldn't hear it here.

Polytonal

Karol Szymanowski is not often performed in our country. Yet he forms, together with Penderetsky and Lutoslawsky, the great Polish composer trio of the twentieth century. He is a contemporary of Bartók, but remains more indebted to the romantic tradition. You can feel in this quartet how late romanticism is breathing down his neck. Until the last movement, something happens there. Beforehand, Hilde Geiregat, the organizer of the concert, had informed the audience about the polytonality in that section. The four string players play the same thing but each in a different key. With this movement we have arrived in the modern twentieth century. The restrained, serene language suits the Turicum quartet better than Beethoven. Especially in the somewhat hesitant, ethereal final movement. The Turicum quartet has moreover been selected to participate later this year in the Szymanowski Competition in Katowice.

After the intermission and before the musicians come on stage, there is a brief chat about this remarkable tower, a colossus of modernism. The reviewer, who is now sitting typing, is also a city guide who also guides in this majestic building. He-I tell for a quarter of an hour about the history, the near decline and the ten-year-long restoration of this monumental tower, whose highest floor, the Belvédère, lends itself excellently to concerts with small ensembles.

Scoring

Bartók's fourth string quartet is a monster. First and fourth movements sound violent, we are warned by the man who introduces the piece. Music like a storm, a whirlwind of raw chunks of brilliant musical phrases, inspired by old Hungarian folk melodies. What I already suspected in Beethoven is confirmed here. They play too well, too smoothly. I miss the feet in Hungarian soil. Impeccable, perfect harmonies, but it lacks grit, a football coach would say. Modesty is a fine virtue, but not when you're playing Bartók. It sounds too defensive. In football terms, they seem rather to celebrate the ingenious saying of Johan Cruyff: "As long as we have the ball, they can't score". It is a valid attitude with which they could play a perfect performance of Ravel's quartet, I think when the last chord has faded away.

As an encore they play again something that suits them perfectly, a melancholic piece by Ennio Morricone. In the ethereal, dreamy quartet playing they are top-notch. In short, a beautiful concert by true professionals, but it lacks feet on the ground. But that is perhaps precisely the reason why this beautiful concert took place at this special location, sixty metres above ground level.