Review | Young Hong Kong string quartet wow with Mozart, Dvorak performances full of energy and refinement
- The Romer String Quartet came up trumps with their Beare’s Premiere Music Festival readings of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 17 and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No. 2
- Acclaimed local pianist Rachel Cheung joined violinists Kitty Cheung and Kiann Chow, violist Ringo Chan, and cellist Eric Yip for the Dvorak
The exceptional intimacy required of a classical string quartet requires hard work and the right chemistry between four sensitive musicians before it can bear fruitful results.
Happily, this is the case with the young Hong Kong-based Romer String Quartet.
In a January 9 performance during the Beare’s Premiere Music Festival – which also marks 15 years of Premiere Performances, the classical music presenter founded by Andrea Fessler – the musicians came up trumps with refined and energetic readings of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 17 and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No. 2, the latter partnered by acclaimed local pianist Rachel Cheung.
There were smiles all round even before the Mozart. To see the four musicians walk onstage beaming and finally mask-free was refreshing to say the least.
But equally refreshing was the smart move for violinists Kitty Cheung and Kiann Chow and violist Ringo Chan to perform standing and relatively close together. This contributed no end to the compactness of their sound.
