Music / French Connection, Phoenix Collective Quartet. At Wesley Music Centre, June 13. Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD.

The Phoenix Collective Quartet, of Dan Russell, 1^st violin and artistic director Pip Thompson, 2^nd violin and program notes, Ella Brinch playing viola and Andrew Wilson on cello, have established themselves as leading members of the Canberra chamber music community in recent years.

This was the first of PCQ’s three concerts for the year and had everything an audience would want for a musical evening. It was cleverly programmed, entertainingly introduced and very well played. As the name of the concert suggests, the focus was on French string quartet music. The time frame ranged from the 1770s to 2010 with composers both well-known and wonderfully obscure, at least outside of France.

The first work was by Joseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a French soldier and musician of the second half of the 18^th century. The String Quartet in C minor, written around 1770, is one of the earliest quartets of French origin. It is a pleasant showpiece for the 1st violin player, very much of its time and in just two movements.

The middle section of the concert was two modern works, the first by William Sheller, better known in France as a singer-songwriter. Born in 1946 he trained as a classical musician but was converted to popular music after hearing the Beatles. This work, Baba Yaga, was written in 1984. The overall sound is American minimalist, using lots of short repeated patterns, with an underlying feeling that it could almost be played by a prog-rock band. An interesting piece of music, as was the next work by a younger French composer Guillaume Connesson.

This was Connesson’s String Quartet No. 1, written in 2010. It is in three short movements named for the emotions they are describing; Very Calm, Furious and Sad rather than any strict indication of tempo. It was really quite lovely, with all four instruments equally featured.

The final work in the concert was the String Quartet in F minor by Maurice Ravel, written around 1902-03. It is a marvellous combination of textures and melodies over four movements and an entirely satisfying experience.

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