January 2008

Dear Music-lover,

Friday, 11th January turned out to be one of the great days. The day was spent skiing at Cairngorm - one of those magical days when the snow is dry, the wind is gentle and the queues are short. Back in Inverness in time for my usual (for more than 30 years) Friday evening ritual - putting the world to rights over a quick pint - a bite to eat and off to the Town House for the Lancier Brass Quintet. And, being brass players, the day ended up back in the pub.

The concert confirmed what I've often thought: that the Inverness chamber music audience are open to many styles of music. They are not stick-in-the-mud "String quartets or nothing" people; if it's good, they'll welcome it. And this was good. Berio's "Call" had the quintet standing, facing the audience - a dramatic fanfare. The quintet by Ewald - a contemporary of Borodin - made me appreciate one difference between a string quintet and a brass quintet: the absence of vibrato.

The individual characters of the instruments were highlighted in Bernstein's "Dance Suite" and the last piece, depicting a series of paintings, illustrated the huge range of tones available, from mellow timbres to hysterical screeches. Nevertheless, I was still flabbergasted by the comment of a friend, "enjoyed the concert on Friday evening, especially the third movement of the last piece in the first half (the slow, polyphonic one - beautiful) and the last piece in the second half. I was especially intrigued about the Broadway Boogie-woogie, as I know the painting in question and it is (as with all late Mondrian) a very rectilinear work. However, unlike some of his earlier 'grid' paintings, the lines are not solid colour but alternating stripes running across the lines and it was this aspect that I felt was picked up by the composer. The Bernstein was amusing ..."

Says it all, don't you think?

On Wednesday, 20th February, we are delighted to welcome our friends, the Kungsbacka Piano Trio, playing the Schubert Trio Op. 100, which they have recorded for Naxos - and other works. Another great day in store, methinks. I wonder what the snow will be like...

Paul