Music / “Darkness and Light”, Phoenix Collective Quartet. At Tuggeranong Arts Centre, February 17, Reviewed by LEN POWER.

THE Phoenix Collective showcases classical music with a uniquely Australian edge. It was formed in 2018 and has gone from strength to strength. 

Known for diverse and thoughtful programming, in December the group received a Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for a concert exploring the music of the tango.

With “Darkness and Light”, the Phoenix Collective Quartet presented a particularly interesting program of musical contrasts. Each of the works was given a well-presented and enlightening introduction by the performers.

Commencing with a world premiere by WA composer and jazz musician, Mace Francis, “Squint Your Eyes” is a work that explores the concepts of truth and perception. It is filled with dark, disturbing elements relieved by moments of melodic brightness and optimism. It seems to truly mirror the uncertain times we live in and its intention is very clear. 

This is a work that deserves to be heard more widely and was played very well by the quartet.

Mozart’s String Quartet in C major K 465 “Dissonance” was next. Again, it was well-chosen with its unusual and unexpected dissonance in the first movement, hinting at darker ideas, but ultimately leading to bright and sunny passages with lyrical hints of Mozart’s operatic works. 

The quartet gave this a fine performance and the obvious enjoyment of playing the rollicking final movement was especially fun to watch.

The final work presented was another good choice for the “Darkness and Light” theme. Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor op 132 was composed in 1825 at a time when the composer was already profoundly deaf and in great pain from an intestinal complaint. 

That pain, clearly there in the darkly emotional music of this work, is relieved only by the beautiful and slow third movement which Beethoven labelled “Holy song of thanksgiving from a convalescent to the Divinity”, referring to his partial recovery from his intestinal illness. The quartet’s playing of this work was masterful from start to finish.

The audience was then treated to two encores. The first a short, highly atmospheric Swedish traditional piece followed by a jazzy arrangement of themes by Taylor Swift.

Phoenix Collective Quartet performs today at Wesley Music Centre, Forrest.