The Kuss Quartet and Naoko Shimizu Play Quartets and Quintets by Mozart, Brahms, Kurtág and Gordon Kerry by Andrew Miller

Moon-over-dark-buildings

Jenö Szervánszky. Moon over Dark Buildings.
Oil on board. ca.19??
20 x 15cm
Private collection
View over the rooftops from the artist’s apartment in Danjanich utca, Budapest.


City Recital Hall, Sydney: 29 September, 2012

The Kuss Quartet
Jana Kuss – violin
Oliver Wille – violin
William Coleman – viola
Mikayel Hakhnazaryan – cello

with
Naoko Shimizu – viola

Gordon Kerry – String Quintet (2012)
Mozart – String Quartet no. 21 in D major K575
György KurtágOfficium Breve in Memoriam Andreae Szervánszky, opus 28
Brahms – String Quintet no. 2 in G major, opus 111

It is always fun when a new string quartet comes to town, especially when they bring strange and different music with them. György Kurtág is not very strange, but nonetheless somewhat rare around here, and more importantly excellent listening, so I’m grateful to the Kuss Quartet for bringing it, even if short, though holding its own among the more usual fair. And the encore of Mozart’s Cassation in C was entirely beyond the call of duty in such an enormous and dense program, especially considering the concentrated, caring manner of their playing.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an international journal for the arts!