Quintessentially viola

By WILLIAM DART

Hariolf Schlichtig is a big name in international viola circles. He has recorded Brahms with the Alban Berg Quartet and Mozart with flautist Emmanuel Pahud, and he was also a member of the prestigious Cherubini Quartet for almost two decades.

I catch up with him after he has experienced the excursion of a lifetime, motoring along a blustery coast from Invercargill to Dunedin on the first leg of his Chamber Music New Zealand tour with the New Zealand String Quartet.

The genial German met up with the NZSQ some time ago in Cornwall at Prussia Cove, "a famous place for young musicians to make so-called open chamber music", as he describes it, "very similar to the Marlborough Festival in Vermont".

This led to his being invited in 1999 to coach the quartet for its Beethoven cycle which was to take place the following year. It was during these workshops that the idea of some "quintet concerts" was born.

Five years on, it has happened and Monday's concert consists of two quintets by Mozart and one by Brahms; Mozart's K. 515 and K. 614 are side by side and, according to Schlichtig, they are different.

"The first is a more maestoso, singing piece, full of poise and not quite as playful as the other, which is a joyful, dancing work."

The Brahms on the bill is the same G major Quintet of Opus 111 which Schlichtig recorded with the Alban Berg Quartet four years ago.

"Brahms is special," the violist confides, "a romantic composer who is very classical. When I was in the Cherubini Quartet we always tried to make Brahms' textures as clear as possible because his music is often played with too much romanticism, too thick and loud and not transparently enough."

He laughs outright when I ask him how the modus operandi of the Alban Berg and the NZSQ differ.

"They're very different," he stresses.

"The Alban Berg Quartet is much older and more fixed. They know what they want and they don't compromise. Your New Zealanders are younger and more open. We discuss, we try it this way and that way and then decide what we prefer.

"This, I feel, is the more creative way of working."

This wonderfully civilised man who started his studies as a violinist under Max Rostal switched to viola when he was asked to fill a gap in a string quartet on a Canadian tour.

"After a wonderful six weeks' studying Bartok and Brahms, I decided to stay with the viola."

He is now sought after as a freelance chamber musician, although he admits to missing the repertoire for string quartet, "because all composers wrote their very best music for it".

On the positive side, "it's been good meeting new people, getting ideas and getting inspired. I also manage to do more solo work which I couldn't really do when I belonged to a string quartet."

With all the bleak news we hear from offshore about the financial struggles of musical organisations, Schlichtig's greatest regret is that "music is always thought of as a luxury and, if money runs short, it's the first thing to suffer as far as governments are concerned.

"But music is not a luxury," he affirms. "It's more like a very important medicine for people. It fulfils a really basic need in all of us."

There are things to rejoice about, as well; particularly the fact that "we still have all the old music, from Bach or even earlier. It's also very interesting that, all over the world, from China to South America and Africa, this music is played everywhere, and this is really something special".

Performance

* Who: Hariolf Schlichtig, with the New Zealand String Quartet

* Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Monday, 8pm