As I sat listening to a magnificent performance of Schubert’s String Quintet in C major by the Miró Quartet in Bates Hall at the University of Texas, I was struck yet again by the tragic unfairness of life. Schubert wrote this masterpiece in 1828, just weeks before his death at the age of 31. He never heard it performed. In fact, the first performance was not given until 22 years later.

What would he have thought of this performance in 2008 with guest cellist Bion Tsang given 157 years after his own demise? We can only wonder. Speaking for myself, this was a performance that surpassed all others I have ever heard. Why? It began with complete mastery of all the technical challenges and went on to reveal virtually the complete range of joy and sadness contained in this remarkable work.

The Miró has been in residence at UT Austin for the past four years and the ensemble continues to grow in stature. Each member of the group has a strong personality and impeccable technique. Together they have a rare chemistry. They must put in countless hours of rehearsal together to produce a performance of such mastery.

The Schubert Quintet is a long and repetitive piece that often wears out its welcome in routine readings. Not so in this performance. The players didn’t rush or favor fast tempos but one had the sense that the tempo choices they made were exactly right. The folk dances in the last movement have never sounded more rustic nor more infectious; they had a convincing sense of style. Everywhere in the piece one was amazed by the care taken over phrasing and note values.

The vibrato-less opening of the Adagio was sustained with remarkable concentration. Bion Tsang made a profound statement with each pizzicato he played – each one executed with just the right weight and sound. A few pages later in the slow movement first violinist Daniel Ching contributed the most sonorous three-part pizzicato chords I have ever heard. The scherzo was abandoned and exciting in the outer sections but positively Brucknerian in the middle section. That is to say, Schubert’s tempo marking Andante sostenuto was no mere minor adjustment in tempo; the mood changed profoundly to world-weariness and even the rests had remarkable eloquence.

Daniel Ching led the ensemble with a vast range of tone colors, while second violinist Sandy Yamamoto offered playing of joyous intensity. The two cellists (Joshua Gindele and Bion Tsang) were incredibly attentive to each other, getting their unison passages perfectly in tune and playing their glorious thirds and sixths molto espressivo as Schubert must have wanted to hear them. We sat in the sixth row of UT Austin’s Bates Recital and the sound was ideal.

But there was more. The concert started with one of Haydn’s London Trios and continued with a rarity: Arensky’s Quartet in A minor for Violin, Viola and Two Celli Op. 35. The second movement is a set of imaginative variations on a theme by Tchaikovsky, and in the finale Arensky makes use of the same Russian folk song Beethoven had used in his Second Rasumovsky Quartet. I can’t recall hearing this work before and I was amazed by Arensky’s imagination in creating haunting and exciting string textures. This was a fine piece played with enormous energy and beauty of sound. Sandy Yamamoto, the Miró’s second violinist was the leader and she was outstanding.

The Miró Quartet was founded in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio and within a few years had won the prestigious first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In the last few years it has come of age as one of the ranking chamber music ensembles of our time.

The Miró has recorded the Schubert Quintet with cellist Matt Haimovitz (Oxindale) and is working its way through the complete Beethoven String Quartets. It tours internationally every season.

Even the Miró, however, needs time to regroup, study and enjoy other things in life, and the members of the ensemble will be doing just that from now until the end of the year. Thankfully for audiences around the world, they will resume their touring activities early in 2009.

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