Brentano String Quartet Focuses on Haydn

Brentano String Quartet members Serena Canin, Misha Amory, Nina Lee, and Mark Steinberg (from the SFP Web page for last night’s performance)

Last night the Brentano String Quartet returned to Herbst Theatre for their eight appearance with San Francisco Performances (SFP). Three of the founding members are still performing, violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, and violist Misha Amory. Nina Lee took over as cello after Michael Kannen left the ensemble of May of 1998. In other words, these four musicians have been playing as a quartet for over a quarter of a century.

If the membership has staying power, then last night’s program was devoted to a composer with prodigious staying power of his own, Joseph Haydn. Haydn is often credited as the “father of the string quartet.” Given that the number of string quartet in the Hoboken catalog runs to 83, one could stay that he sired an abundant family. (To be fair, however, each of the seven quartets in The Seven Last Words of Christ has its own Hoboken number!)

The span of last night’s program covered the last 40 years of the composer’s life. It began with the earliest selection, the fourth of the six Opus 17 quartets, composed in the key of C minor. The intermission was followed by the last of the quartets, the incomplete Opus 103 in D minor, consisting only of the full composition’s second and third movements. The first half of the program concluded with Opus 54, Number 2, in C major, the second of the first set of “Tost” quartets. The evening concluded with Opus 20, Number 4, in D major from the collection known as the Sun Quartets. This last selection concluded with a Presto scherzando movement abounding with eccentric rhythms to put a bounce in the steps of listeners leaving Herbst.

This was the ensemble’s eighth SFP appearance. According to my records, it was the first since January of 2023, when they presented a “performance project” entitled Dido Reimagined, joined by soprano Dawn Upshaw accounting for Dido. I may not have been able to account for all of their visits to SFP; but I am almost certain that I was there for a healthy share of them, always consistently satisfied. I am also impressed that they have maintained their current membership since May of 1998, when founding cellist Michael Kannen had to leave for pressing family matters. Having thoroughly enjoyed a full evening of Haydn, I look forward to the next program they prepare!