The Terrible Beauty of Music
Jealousy, rage, murder: with Tolstoy music doesn’t transport one to a better world, but leads directly to ruin. His novel “Kreutzer
Sonata” ranks at first place in describing the potentially disastrous effect of music. This was the central motive of a matinee in the
series “Literature and Music”... which, with an outstanding group of artists, delivered a full hall and an exciting ninety minutes for
the public.
Guests were the Merel Quartet and Margriet de Moor. Ms de Moor, with her novel published 2001, has written the most recent „Kreutzer
Sonata“, after Beethoven’s Violin sonata, Tolstoy’s novel and Janacek’s string quartet. De Moor’s hope, as expressed in her interview
with Judith Kuckart, is that the alteration between word and note will continue, that the torch will pass once more from literature to
music, perhaps in the form of a chamber opera. Eros, jealousy, pity and danger are the harmonic areas to which the various contributions
are tuned. Readings from de Moor’s own novel as well as the Tolstoy – „Music is a terrible thing“, says his narrator - and the
interpretation of the music which served as a basis for these literary works helped us understand this point of view. Mary Ellen
Woodside, primaria of the Merel Quartet, revealed the seductive beauty of this horror/terror/agony in the first movement of Beethoven’s
Kreutzer Sonata. Her elastic playing brought out, together with Alasdair Beatson at the piano, less the forceful, daring aspects as the
beguiling side.
The Merel Quartet’s concentrated interpretation of Janacek’s string quartet nr 1
demonstrated that inner tension is not dependant on superficial effects. Founded in
2002, the quartet captivated with their subtle drawing of the musical characters and
evoked an atmosphere fluctuating between longing, pity and danger.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Nov 2009
The Passion of a Quartet
The Merel Quartet, together now for seven years, has secured a position as one of the most interesting young chamber music ensembles. Their first CD may well be
understood as an avowal: not only in terms of the immediacy of the interpretation, but also with regard to repertoire. The centerpiece of the release is the
three-movement first string quartet “Ph(r)ases” by the 34-year-old Swiss composer David Philip Hefti: expressive music, which, with its richly woven textures,
expanded vocabulary of sounds and declamatory gestures, lays a path to the other two works on the CD by referring to the love affairs of Clara and Robert Schumann
as well as Kamila Stösslova and Leos Janacek. The Merel Quartet plays this romanticizing, subjective novelty, whose volatility and almost manic motivic
repetitions do indeed remind one of Janáček, with the same enthusiasm as the older works. Schumann’s a minor quartet Op. 41 nr.1 is presented with transparency
and clarity, with healthy yet elegant tone and deep reflection, as rich in tonal variety as Janacek’s second string quartet “Intimate Letters”. The fluctuations
between despair and bliss are seldom achieved so unobtrusively yet at the same time with such depth of feeling.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Nov 2009
«played by the Merel Quartet with utmost expressivity and a subtle sense of form, tone and rhetoric.»
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, May 2007
«The performance [Schumann op.41/1] was convincing in every respect, technically and musically.»
Thurgauer Zeitung, March 2007
« The Merel Quartet's interpretation (of Schubert's Quartet 'Death and the Maiden') deserves the highest commendation. The technical brilliance of the first violinist, the fiery playing of the second, the warm sonority of the violist, and the formal structure, cleverly shaped by the cellist, left nothing to be desired. It was wonderful to hear the second movement, in all its solemnity, expressing less the inexorability of death and the intolerability of fate, but rather suggesting a promise of hope.»
On Dvorák's Cypresses:
«… the Merel Quartet's convincing, passionate, yet never exaggerated performance…»
Thurgauer Zeitung, January 2007
 « With their performance of Bartók's second string quartet, Op. 17, the Merel Quartet confirmed their top position among the new generation of quartets. The depth of their interpretation, their unanimous tonal urgency and their feeling for contrasts made a deep impression...
'Schubert's «Death and the Maiden» ended the program. One doesn't know where to begin: the precision of ensemble, the vivid carving out of melodic lines and their passing from one voice to another, the convincing choice of tempi or the superb differentiation of dynamics.'
'The variations were intimately played with a naturally soulful sound, compassionate and touching...'
'... with uncompromising honesty.' »
Schwäbische Zeitung, January 2006
« The audience had the pleasure of a string quartet concert on the highest level. The Merel Quartet mastered their program with convincing artistry. »
Berner Oberländer, August 2005
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