Arts Fest Reviews at TFI:

Not to be confused with the other jazz group with the same monicker, FourPlay Electric String Quartet is, as their name suggests, a classical four-string group with pickups, amps and distortion pedals. You'd also be right to assume that they do not play the music of dead white composers or wear penguin suits. Shirts, jeans, a pair of bare feet, plus a knitted pink cardigan and thonged sandals for the lady would be just fine, thank you very much.

Inevitably, one would be tempted to compare them with a certain other electric quartet - but I can tell you the verdict up front: no contest. For starters, FourPlay are literally just that - four musicians, period. No backup instruments, drumsets, programmable synths or any pretensions to being "classical".

Drawing more on the influence of the Kronos, Balanescu and Brodsky quartets, FourPlay have their own carefully cultivated style and approach to their music. Like all serious artists - don't let the mikes and wires fool you - they perform music by themselves as well as their favourite covers by others. And their self-composed works kick ass (unlike, ahhh, some electric quartets I could name.)

The first night's gig was hard rock, mostly. Audiences expecting a mellow evening out, or perhaps some watered-down faux-classical restylings of Metallica and Depeche Mode would be, not to put too fine a point on it, disappointed.

This is, after all, music from the age of electricity and jets and rockets to the moon, and they accomplished this with (a) a solid classical background, (b) a feckless joie de vivre to their music-making and (c) things done on their instruments that would have given my string teacher a myocardial infarction. And I'm not talking about amplified sul ponticello, either.

But on to the music. High-wattage renditions of The Sweetest Perfection by Depeche Mode and Domino by The Cloud with funky lighting effects immediately set the attitude for the evening. Using unorthodox methods of bowing combined with electronically-processed sounds, they produced string timbres that were spot-on perfect for the music. Can a violin sound like a electric guitar, an ondes Martenot and a kazoo ? If you hear FourPlay, you'll believe that it can.

And by no means was everything fully instrumental. Lara Goodridge had the lioness's share of the numbers which were vocal: Cut Up by Atomic Dustbin and Trust, a straight-to-the-heart song of her own composition aptly delivered in the most chanteuse-like manner. Like so many of the rock bands which inspire their music, FourPlay also included protest songs into their gig - Pop Will Sample Itself's Ich Bin Ein Auslander, done full justice by the Hollo brothers.

Orthodox classical fans, by this point, would have either been converted to their music (although by their own admission, FourPlay do not profess to be "preachers") or gritting their teeth in pain... Not even a brief snippet from Fauré's Requiem in FourPlay's cover of Velvet Underground's Femme Fatale would have assauged the anguish much, even if it put a smile on my face. I must profess here, though, that I'd love to hear their take on Shostakovich or Bartok sometime.

Led Zepplin and The Beastie Boys received their share of stage time as well - the latter being an instrumentalized version of the rap number Sabotage. I don't think I'd have imagined that I'd ever hear Metallica's Enter Sandman tossed around on an electricized string quartet, but there it was. The closing number by Jeff Buckley was well received by the audience, who clearly wanted more.

Two numbers for the encore, including Veren Grigorov's inspired crossover Gypsy Scream, were not enough to send the crowd home happy. To be fair, Tim Hollo did announce that FourPlay's would be performing the next two nights although, because of Festival programming, they were up against rather tough competition (such as certain minimalist films elsewhere.)

But what I really enjoyed in their music was the sincerity, spontaniety and conviction about what they do. Classically-trained musicians who leave the beaten track to discover a new strata of music-making and perform their own material (even arrangements of other people's music) are rare as dodo omelettes. FourPlay are the real goods.

BENJAMIN CHEE enjoyed FourPlay as much as he enjoys being (occasionally) a cunning linguist. [That's not very original, Ben! - Ed.]

If you wish to Add a Comment to this review, please post your comments to classical@inkpot.com.

Last Concert Reviewed | Next Concert Reviewed

Return to the Classical Index!... or Visit the Inkvault archives!

All original texts are copyrighted. Please seek permission from the Classical Editor
if you wish to reproduce/quote Inkpot material.