Belcea String Quartet Performs Autumnal works by Mozart, Dean, and Beethoven

Belcea String Quartet Performs Autumnal works by Mozart, Dean, and Beethoven

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Capital Region Classical, Union College Memorial Chapel, Schenectady, New York

Belcea String Quartet

Corina Belcea, violin

Suyeon Kang, violin

Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola

Antoine Lederlin, cello

W. A. Mozart, Quartet in C Major, K. 465, Dissonance

Adagio-Allegro

Andante cantabile

Menuetto: Allegro

Allegro molto

Brett Dean, Quartet No. 4, A Little Book of Prayers

Petition

Speaking in Tongues

Contemplation

The Gospel Truth (A Closer Walk with Thee)

Lament

Ludwig van Beethoven, Quartet in F Major, Op. 135

Allegretto

Vivace

Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo

Grave, ma non troppo tratto – Allegro “Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß” (The Difficult Decision) – Grave: Muss es sein? (Must it be?) – Allegro: Es muss sein! (It must be!)

Belcea Quartet: (l to r) Suyeon Kang, Krzysztof Chorzelski, , Antoine Lederlin,, Corina Belcea

It was a radiant afternoon, a bit bracing, and the fall colors ushered in three chamber works that mirrored the complexity of the season: complex hues beginning to mute; mutation of temperature; and encroaching finality.

The Belcea Quartet, one of the preeminent string ensembles, appeared once again on the familiar turf of this wonderful hall noting a farewell to the United States for the next two years.  (Reviews of previous Belca concerts be found here:  Schubert and Szymanowski, Beethoven, Bartók, and Debussy.)

Mozart’s Dissonance Quartet, the last of the quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn, seeks harmonic clashes, cascading melodic layers, and unexpected turns all within perfectly poised classical structures.  It is the opening Adagio that imparts the work’s sobriquet. Over a throbbing cello line, steadily sinking in semitones, upward arching dissonant lines overlap with little real resolution. However, the shock value is quickly worn off by the light and airy first subject of the ensuing Allegro.  Certainly, in Haydn’s oeuvre there are similar introductions that act as tragic miniatures juxtaposed with some upcoming merriment.  Indeed, the C major section, marked by Ms. Belcea’s succulent phrasing and bowing, sweeps the tears away. Contrasts in dynamics with short phrases usher in the dominant second subject. Here, Mozart gives us more striking harmonies, but in a fleeting and humorous way. Rapid flourishes and triplets close the exposition in the dominant key, but not before recalling the throbbing bass from the stark introduction. The “light and airy” first theme becomes almost menacing when infused with new harmony. Mozart’s subtle transformations are almost kaleidoscopic in the way pleasure and pain are mutable. 

The second movement, a plaintive song in F major, recalls the patterns of repeated notes, undulating bass lines, and phrases reflecting grief.  Here, the Belcea was breathtaking, particularly in the exchange between cello and violin.  The Menuetto combines a melody typical of the dance but is greeted with chromatic overlapping rising lines which lend a bittersweet atmosphere. A dark C-minor trio captures more complexity and dissonance towards its conclusion.  Chromaticism continues in the final movement which mixes gaity, turbulence, and poignancy. It’s one of Mozart’s greatest tours de force:  The Belcea’s virtuosity and ensemble could not be bettered.

Brett Dean’s Fourth Quartet is an elegy for Belcea’s founding second violinist, Laura Samuel, who passed away a year ago last November.  It’s a remarkably well-crafted modernist work that gives the players a real workout, but at the beginning, midway, and end, obviously pays solemn tribute to the beloved colleague. The work even transmogrifies the gospel hymn “Just A Closer Walk with Thee,” a melody widely popularized by another “Dean,” country singer Jimmy Dean.  Indeed, this movement has an Appalachian flavor replete with whistles and squeals, lending a bit of light twang to the “prayer book.”  The invocation, “Petition,” begins with a stunning high cello part with the other strings muted.  In “Speaking in Tongues,” a polytonal profusion of string effects -- sul ponticello, harmonics, glissandi and portamenti -- coalesces into a kind of fragmentary chaos. The third movement, “Contemplation,” is an affecting and expressive threnody in which the viola leads to a beautifully aching and ghostly conclusion.  The final impressionistic “Lament” suggests astral gloaming amidst pain, with otherworldly suggestions. There is a motif of a four-note glissandi which congeals to a hymn; fragments of Debussy seem to float by with a consonant and final upward rising evocation. Truly memorable.

Mozart’s Dissonance Quartet was the final of six quartets dedicated to Haydn and Dean’s quartet eulogized a fellow musician.  Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Opus 135, the final full quartet from his pen, is certainly a valediction. Yet, it is lighter and less tragic than, say, his Opus 132 Quartet in A minor. At times there are moments of irony, wit and acceptance.  The work is also surprisingly brief.  In the final movement, Beethoven inscribed at the top, “Der schwer gefaßte Entschluß (The difficult decision),” with the two inverted three-note motifs labeled Muss es sein? (Must it be?) and Es muss sein! (It must be!). In the Allegretto first movement, the phrasing and intonation were delivered with crystal clarity, undoubtedly assisted by the superb acoustics of the chapel. The movement is haunted by two opening motifs and exhibits modernisms that belie the composition’s compositional period. Fragments, fleeting virtuosic passages, unisons, and angular sevenths disorient the listener. Yet, unity is achieved when the opening key motifs ooze through. Jollity continues and is ramped up in the Vivace (a scherzo) as syncopations and near-cubist phrases, are combined with a sort of manic hurdy-gurdyish bass.  The Lento in D-flat major and C-sharp minor, is one of Beethoven’s most magnificent and noble compositions. It is frequently performed as a separate work for string orchestra. The finale juxtaposes despairing outbursts (Must it be?) with jocular and eccentric retorts (It must be!) in musical inversion. The centerpiece is sort of peasant dance in A major which returns as a coda with the violin playing the theme against a pizzicato accompaniment. 

Perhaps, at the end of it all, we can anguish over our fate, but as Beethoven suggests, take life as an unbridled ride enjoying all surprises we encounter. It’s a remarkable work, even by Beethoven’s elevated standards, and the Belcea is the most eloquent ensemble to do it justice.