Concert review

Divided Schubertiade

The Minetti Quartet with violist Nils Mönkemeyer.

(Bild: (c) Schubertiade GmbH)

On the third of five Schubertiade days in Hohenems, fabulous chamber music was followed by a difficult lieder recital debut.

On Monday afternoon in the Markus Sittikus Hall in Hohenems, there was another highly enjoyable encounter with the Austrian Minetti Quartet. Schubert's last string quartet in G major, in itself a work with strong expressive power, was pushed to the limits of intensity by the two ladies and two gentlemen. Dense clusters of sound, a wonderful cello solo by Leonard Roczek and the spooky scherzo deserve a mention.

After the interval, violist Nils Mönkemeyer joined the orchestra for Antonin Dvorak's String Quintet in E flat major Opus 97, and this melodious and relaxed composition did indeed focus on the middle voices, as Anna Knopp on second violin also shone with solos, and the quartet's violist Milan Milojicic was on a par with the wonderful Nils Mönkemeyer. The encore was weighty: the slow movement from Mozart's Quintet in G minor, where Primaria Maria Ehmer was able to show off her enchantingly silvery violin tone.

David Steffens

(Bild: (c) Schubertiade GmbH)

The second concert of the day was the recital debut of David Steffens, who has repeatedly performed in ensembles here. With his powerful bass, the forty-year-old Bavarian is certainly in the right place on the opera stage and can be heard this year on the lake stage in Bregenz. But lieder singing is something else. For an agonizingly long time, and indeed throughout the first part with songs by Schubert, his voice sounded far too loud, with little focus and repeatedly unsteady intonation.

In the second part of the program, which was heavy with thought, even deathly drunken, came the "Vier ernste Gesänge" by Johannes Brahms, which David Steffens now performed in a very cultivated and lyrically clear manner. Four equally lengthy songs by Richard Strauss completed the program, which was politely applauded by the audience. Ammiel Bushakevitz at the piano proved to be a sensitive accompanying partner that one would like to hear again.