A new dimension to string theory

The Age

Wednesday March 9, 2011

Clive O'Connell Reviewer

HOPKINS QUARTETRating: 3.5/5 Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, March 7 THE latest chamber music ensemble to join Melbourne's concert scene has named itself in honour of Professor John Hopkins, an enduring influence on this country's musical life, and is presenting a series of three recitals at Stones of the Yarra Valley and in the Recital Centre's Salon.In personnel, the Hopkins has plenty of distinction. Its viola is Fiona Sargeant, acting principal with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, while cellist Sharon Draper also comes from the MSO ranks, after a distinguished graduation from the Australian National Academy of Music. The role-swapping violinists have much experience in concertmaster roles: Wilma Smith heads the MSO, while Li Wang has moved back to Orchestra Victoria from heading the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.One quality the quartet shows immediately is confidence of attack. On Monday evening, right from the opening of Haydn's Op. 76 No. 5, the listener was engaged by the group's energy, with an amplitude of phrasing that continued through an ardent account of the moving largo and into a cracking finale that stood in contrast to many a more pallid account of this sparkling score.Wang took over first desk duty for the program's other component, the Shostakovich No. 3 in F. This made a very favourable impression with passages of ardent play from Sargeant and Draper in the focal adagio's pages of dour drama and harmonic intensity. And in the outer segments, the Hopkins players showed a sensitivity to colour and melodic arcs that attested to their individual and collegial expertise.

© 2011 The Age

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