Orion Quartet graps comedy, tragedy in Beethoven quartets

Although this was the third of six Beethoven string quartet cycle concerts the Orion Quartet will perform at IU, it has not yet ceased to amaze. Its blend of technical mastery and complete control of the repertoire it is tackling led up to a remarkable performance Sunday.\nThis concert featured three quartets from a variety of periods in Beethoven's life. The first was his Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4. The Opus 18 quartets were published as a set of six pieces written from about 1798 to 1800. The style comes from a tradition established by Franz Joseph Haydn, who conceived of the string quartet as a conversation between the four players.\nThe conversation was clearly present within this performance, especially in moments of the second movement, when the fugue in the opening established four characters as distinct as the players themselves, each with a clear tone and purpose.\nThe Orion Quartet has an uncanny ability to balance the often abrupt changes of style and mood in Beethoven. The Op. 18 No. 4 certainly comprised a lot of contrast, with the first movement rocketing back and forth between sections of brooding bass chords underneath the violin melody to moments of a lively theme with a rocking bass line.\nGiven the dichotomous nature of the Beethoven quartets, the balance between pathos and levity can be very easily overshot, making the contrasts almost too distinct. However, the Orion Quartet moved between the comedy and the tragedy without ever losing a center of the sound that makes it into a cohesive piece rather than separate elements strung together.\nMoving later in Beethoven's life to the Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127, we see a very distinct difference in purpose. The conversational nature of the Op. 18 is still present, but Beethoven has also begun working with string quartets not as four individual parts but one single sound. This particular quartet was all about dense sonorities, thick chords built between all four voices.\nThe Orion Quartet blended its sounds so that it was often difficult to tell which part was coming from which instrument. Only in the moments when the texture would become thin enough for a slight melody to come through would the audience be reminded that there were four players present.\nThe final piece -- Quartet in C Major, Op. 59 No 3 -- falls in between the conversation of the Op. 18 and the thicker nature of the Op. 127. It uses more dissonance and interesting chromatic lines than the early Op. 18, but maintains more individuality of parts than Op. 127. Especially in the Andante, the Orion Quartet created images of a sinuous melody, held in place by the heartbeat pizzicato in the cello.\nOne of the trademarks of the Beethoven quartets is the composer's enjoyment of false endings. This makes the quartet not only a conversation between players, but between performer and audience. Especially in the last movement of the Op. 59 quartet, there would be a place where the movement would feel like it was drawing to a close, only to have it dart off in another direction -- a new variation on a theme, or the return of one from earlier in the piece. A number of times throughout the concert the joke would be so complete that the audience would actually laugh as it applauded -- as if we were in on the inside joke with not only the quartet, but Beethoven as well.\nWhile this concert would have served as a perfectly nice ending to the series, I'm sure the Orion Quartet has more surprises in store for the next and final weekend of the Beethoven Cycle series, to be performed Jan. 25-26 in Auer Hall.