The Tokyo Quartet make their final appearance at the Tannery Pond Concerts with Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Debussy in Minor Keys, by Michael Miller

The Tokyo String Quartet in the First Congregational Church, Stockbridge. Photo © 2012 Lucas Miller.

Tannery Pond Concerts
The First Congregational Church, Stockbridge
Saturday, June 16, 2012, 7 pm

The Tokyo String Quartet
Martin Beaver, Violin
Kikuei Ikeda, Violin
Kazuhide Isomura, Viola
Clive Greensmith, Violoncello

Haydn – String Quartet in G minor (“The Rider”), Opus 74, No. 3
Mendelssohn – String Quartet in E minor, Opus 44, No. 2
Debussy – String Quartet in G minor, Opus 10

By now everybody knows that the renowned Tokyo String Quartet will retire at the end of the 2012-13 season. The quartet was founded in 1969 at the Juilliard School of music by graduates of the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where the founding members had studied with Professor Hideo Saito, who left a profound mark on their approach to music. They came to New York for further study with members of the Juilliard String Quartet. Since then, as one of the first Asian performing groups to acquire an international reputation, they have not only set the example for Japanese musicians in the world at large, they have set an international standard for chamber music playing and the string quartet in particular. The extraordinary efflorescence of string quartets today doubtless owes much to their example. Their playing has been distinguished by its beauty of tone, accuracy of intonation, and precision of ensemble, but, for all this perfection, they never fail to project a fully thought-out and felt conception of the composer’s intentions and the inner content of the music. Their playing is never dry, detached, or emptily virtuosic, and I have never left one of their performances feeling they had failed to go the limit with the music at hand.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!