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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 17, No. 16 August 5, 1953

Griller String Quartet — A Musical Event

Griller String Quartet

A Musical Event

It is indeed very unfortunate that this famous and accomplished group is to give only one public recital in Wellington apart from two others given for the Wellington Chamber Music Society, the last of which will be presented on August 17th.

On the three works performed in the Town Hall last Saturday, the Quartet was accompanied in two of them by one of the worlds finest Chamber music pianists. Hephzibah Menuhin. The first work of the evening was Beethoven's Piano Quartet Op. 16 for violin, viola, violoncello and piano This performance was perhaps the least polished of the evening, but in spite of this there was some remarkable pianoforte playing and in the second movement some excellent solo viola passages.

It was only in the second work that we heard the Quartet as such. This was probably one of the most perfect performances of any work heard for some time in the Town Hall. The oneness of the group, the blending and gradation of tone and colour was remarkable. No one could possibly forget the manner in which the players slipped quietly and gracefully into the slow movement of the Haydn (Op. 33 No. 3) Quartet. The lightness and heightened tone, pleasantry and brevity of the last movement was a delightful contrast to the closely knit and grateful beauty of the slow movement.

In the last work of the programme Hephzibah Menuhin joined forces with the Quartet in the performance of Bloch's Quintet for Piano and Strings. The balance and combination of instruments so noticeable in the Haydn was somewhat lacking in the Bloch but the concerto-like prominence of the piano could be Justified perhaps in the terms of the title. Quintet for Piano and Strings.

The slow movement came as a welcome relief after the stupendous nature of the first movement.

We may call the first movement stupendous, but it was in fact rather small when compared with the last of the "three which was Herculean in its Structure and in the demands it made on the skill and vitality of the players

The Griller Quartet (Sydney Griller and Jack O'Brien violins, Philip Burton viola and Colin Hampton Collo) which is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its formations was founded by four ex-students of the Royal College of Music. This group is employed for several months each year by the University of California as a resident Quartet where it gives recitals, coaching and lectures to music students who have an especial interest in Chamber Music. How excellent this would be here at Victoria! The nearest that we can hope to come to this state of affairs is the School of Chamber Music to be held at St. Peters School. Cambridge, later this month, which will be presided over by the Griller Quartet.

—John Marchant.