The Washington Post 2/23/06: It's hard not to love the early-music crowd. They're infinitely endearing, with their odd haircuts and mismatched shoes, their sackbuts and clumsy barytons, their beards dripping with earnest crumbs of musicology. Lovable, right? There's a place for them, agreed? So please: why oh why must they mess with Mozart?
The Kuijken Quartet, four accomplished early-music specialists who have made serious contributions to the interpretation of Baroque music, appeared at the Library of Congress on Tuesday night to launch an assault on the Classical era, performing the last three of Mozart's celebrated "Haydn" quartets (K. 464, K. 428 and K. 465).
Sigiswald Kuijken
And the evening should have been a treat. These quartets are frighteningly intelligent and insightful, among the most beautiful ever written -- and clear evidence that the human race has not been entirely a waste of time and money.
But you wouldn't know that from Tuesday's performance, which -- not to mince words -- was a muddle of woeful intonation, weak tone, sloppy detail, unfocused interpretation and near-total absence of dramatic tension. Despite much rubbing of sticks and strings, few actual flames were produced, and the audience spent much of the evening exchanging weary looks of dismay.
Perhaps some of the mess was due to 'cellist Wieland Kuijken being replaced at the last minute by Kenneth Slowick, but Slowick is a fine performer and played quite elegantly. First violinist Sigiswald Kuijken was simply not in good form; his playing felt labored and awkward, and violist Marleen Thier and second violin Francois Fernandez, despite some valiant efforts, simply lacked the power to steer this shipwreck off the rocks.