On Sunday, a beautiful fall-like afternoon, the New Hollywood String Quartet performed a program of all Schubert chamber music in the 100-inch telescope dome at Mount Wilson Observatory as part of the Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome series.
On the program were Schubert’s Quartettsatz in C minor, D703 and the String Quintet in C major, D956.
If you’ve never been to the Mount Wilson Observatory, here are several reasons why it should be on your to-do list. First, the drive through the Angeles Crest National Forest provides some spectacular scenery. Second, you get to see the observatory where the famous astronomer Edwin Hubble made one of the great scientific discoveries of all time — that the universe is expanding. Third, if you take advantage of the Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome series, curated by Artistic Director and cellist Cécilia Tsan, you get to hear glorious music inside the dome of the 100-inch telescope.
On Sunday, the first thing that happened once everyone was seated is that the dome was opened up to let sunlight in. Then, the dome began rotating, which gave the strongest illusion that it was the telescope that was rotating. But, of course, the telescope is firmly grounded. Both these actions elicited applause from the audience.
Then, the New Hollywood String Quartet — violinists Tereza Stanislav and Rafael Rishik, violist Robert Brophy, and cellist Andrew Shulman) — walked to the stage and performed the 9-minute Quartettsatz — essentially a single movement for string quartet that was the only survivor of an abandoned string quartet from 1820 when Schubert was 23 years old. The juxtaposition of the anxious tremolos with the immediately recognizable sweet Schubertian melody gives the Quartettsatz a distinctive character that allows it to stand alone without other movements to support it.
The Quartettsatz, however, was just an hors d’oeuvre for the main course — the magnificent, glorious string quintet, which Schubert completed six weeks before he died in 1828 at the age of 31. Unlike previous composers who composed string quintets with two violas, Schubert added an extra cello — and for this performance the quartet was joined by Tsan), which gives this quintet a richness, especially at the lower registers, that an extra viola could not provide. Schubert’s string quintet is chock-full of unforgettable melodies. It’s almost not fair that one person could create so many beautiful melodies in one piece of music. Of course, Schubert did that in most of the pieces that he composed over his short lifespan.
This is the second time that the Schubert string quintet has been performed at the Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome series. It was previously performed in 2019 by the Lyris Quartet, again joined by Tsan. (See our review at https://culturespotla.com/the-lyris-quartet-and-cellist-cecilia-tsan-perform-schubert’s-string-quintet-in-c-major-at-mt-wilson-observatory/). So, the string quintet seems to be a favorite of Tsan, and understandably so. It is a masterpiece that is perfectly fitting for the acoustics in the dome at the Mount Wilson Observatory.
The playing by the performers on Sunday afternoon was top notch. One could tell they had a deep affinity for Schubert, and they perfectly balanced intensity and sensitivity and put feeling into every note. We were at the 5 p.m. performance, which started late because apparently there were some traffic issues that forced the 3 p.m. performance to start late. So that meant that the performers played this program twice with not much more than a 30-minute break in between (during which the audiences enjoyed a reception). Also, by the time they got around to performing the quintet, it was becoming quite cool in the dome. That could not have been easy for their fingers. But none of these things were noticeable in the vigor, energy and feeling they put into both pieces.
Attending one of these concerts is a multisensory experience. You get the beauty of the mountains, the awe of the Mount Wilson Observatory and unforgettable musical performances. Also, you support ongoing programming at the observatory.
There are two more concerts in the dome this season. For more information, visit https://www.mtwilson.edu/concerts/.
—Henry Schlinger, Culture Spot LA