September 2007

Dear Music-lover,

Thursday, 27th September saw the opening concert in the 2007/8 season. It was given by the Carducci Quartet whose members, in various formats, have played here before. It demonstrated to me again the benefit of showing faith in performers who demonstrate talent. They seemed to be immediately relaxed, with Matt Denton giving light, but informative introductions to the works. This was especially valuable with the Janacek quartet, where the seemingly impressionist qualities had a hard edge. But I wonder how Matt came up with the idea that the third movement of the Beethoven was like a “Russian club sandwich”!

The evening was summed up, for me, in a single word: energy. The quartet showed remarkable energy in driving from London on Tuesday night – and in setting off to Manchester for a Friday lunchtime concert immediately after playing for us – but it was displayed to the audience in the very fast-paced final movement of the Haydn quartet…and in the amazing encore “Four, for Tango”, which Astor Piazzolla wrote for the Kronos Quartet, in which almost every part of the instruments were played or struck, to extraordinary effect.

The evening had started with a few words from Alison Marr, who has taken over from Niall Ramsay as ICMS chairman. This slight change allows Niall (who was in the audience) to concentrate on the day job – he being the only member of ICMS who has one!

On Wednesday, 17th October, our concert will be the first full-scale recital given by Jill Morton, the pianist who tested and recommended our Bosendorfer grand piano. Personally, I have concerns about her choice of Beethoven sonata - Op. 31 No. 3 in Eb. Having "played" it for an exam many, many years ago, I've always wondered how it went!


Paul Crowe