Few people realise that the first reality shows were music competitions, where the worst performers are winnowed from one round to the next — just like on the Food network, or The Bachelorette, or Andorra’s Got Talent. The Banff International String Quartet Competition is not like that.
Everyone has a bad day. In the case of a competition where the ranks thin after each round, this means there are no second chances.
In Banff, all 10 quartets get to play all four rounds leading up to the final concert. That’s many hours over many days. The seven-member jury awards points for each round. The competition then has a mathematician crunch these numbers so the final rankings are not the result of argument, negotiation and compromise, but of an impartial tally of seven often very different impressions.
This means that each and every quartet can, in theory, not do their best in one category, then redeem themselves with an exceptional performance the next day.
The journalists present at this year’s 11th Banff competition were given access to the competitors’ practice studios this morning, so we could go interrupt their hard work with all sorts of questions about their art, intentions and impressions.
Several competitors mentioned how wonderful it is to be able to learn all this repertoire, as well as know that they will have a chance to perform it all in front of the competition’s large, attentive and, ultimately, enthusiastic audience.
And no one complained about today’s round, which featured the new Canadian work that all competitors must perform.
We heard 10 quartets play the very intense, 10-minute String Quartet No. 3, co-commissioned by the Banff competition and the CBC from Canadian composer Vivian Fung.
As is the case with new works commissioned for competitions, Fung’s quartet made all sorts of individual and ensemble demands on the contestants. It wasn’t an easy piece to play or to listen to, but its concluding Chaconne was an inspired bit of composition.
Most fascinating was witnessing how the musical and psychological personality of each quartet translated so clearly into these side-by-side performances of unfamiliar material.
Because I’ve been publishing my Top 3 ranking for each round, as well as an overall assessment, I’ll do the same for the Canadian Commission Round.
Five of the 10 quartets delivered impressive interpretations that displayed wide dynamic breadth and tight ensemble work. Three of those five were exceptional — so much so that putting them in 1-2-3 order doesn’t seem fair:
3. Navarra Quartet
2. Dover Quartet
1. Noga Quartet
The absolute control that the Berlin-based Nogas had over this music was breathtaking.
After today’s performances, I’m beginning to think that the Dover Quartet may actually deserve a place in my overall Top 3, which I’ll leave unchanged for now:
3. Schumann Quartett
2. Noga Quartet
1. Calidore String Quartet.
After Saturday’s Romantic Round, which promises plenty of sweet and intense listening, everyone present will have a clear personal favourite for the No. 1 spot.
We had a foretaste of tomorrow’s spoonfuls of musical sugar tonight, as everyone took in a concert featuring the two top quartets from the 10th Banff competition, in 2010, in a programme of chamber-music chestnuts by Schubert and Dvorák.
No one was voted off the mountainside.
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The live streaming of Banff competition recitals resumes on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, here.
John Terauds