More superlatives, I'm afraid. I've got a CD of the Brahms op 60 piano quartet with Emanuel Ax, Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo and Yo-Yo Ma, but listening to this lot play it live tonight was like watching a show in colour when you've only known it in black and white, or looking at a newly-cleaned Old Master. Energy! Attack! Passion! Commitment! Showed what a masterpiece this is, and how Brahms is really up there with the greats.
And then, for pudding (the starter had been Beethoven op 6) , there was the second Dvorak quartet op 87. Packed as full of sunshine as my favourite Chalten Patagonian Merlot (not that I'd want that with my pudding). Why have I never heard it before?
A bit of extra-musical excitement too. Half-way through the first movement of the Dvorak, the viola player stood up and stopped playing, followed immediately by her colleagues. She proceeded to give a telling-off to a woman in the front row who'd been distracting her (and some of the audience too) by eating and drinking in a rather noisy way during the music.
Then they all sat down and started again where they'd left off. All quite understandable, but I suppose it's bound to be a potential problem with a pub venue. I hope the poor woman wasn't put off classical music concerts for life.
Fidelio Piano Quartet at the Dolphin on 2 June
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Robin Orton
- Posts: 3380
- Joined: 9 Sep 2008 07:30
- Location: London SE26
