Just to give you a flavour of what is involved in the organisation of our concert series, I thought you might be interested to hear of the behind-the–scenes excitement prior to Monday’s concert with the Fitzwilliam Quartet and Moray Welsh.
We are conscious that our performers usually have a long trip to get to Inverness and we are happy to accommodate them for an extra night if necessary. This proved to be the case this week, as Moray Welsh came up separately from London, and the others came across from Mull where they had had a concert. Just days before they were due to arrive, we had a message that Lucy Russell, the first violinist had been taken ill. The quartet was playing on a 12 day Ancient History /Archaeology cruise from Turkey to Greece, and unfortunately Lucy was so unwell that she had to be accommodated in the ship’s hospital.
As a result, two of the subsequent concerts on their Scottish tour had to be cancelled, and ours was in doubt – a nightmare scenario for concert promoters! Fortunately, a day or two in the bracing Scottish air meant that she had recovered sufficiently to assure us that our concert would go ahead, albeit it with some changes.
They did not feel that they would have had time to practise the famous Borodin Quartet sufficiently, so we were denied the chance to sing along with ‘And This is My Beloved’ and ‘Baubles, Bangles and Beads’, but they substituted the Shostakovich Quartet No 8, a most moving piece inspired by a visit to Dresden before it was totally rebuilt after the Allied bombing. This piece of programming was most appropriate during Remembrance week, and just as the world was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the destruction of the Berlin Wall.
The programme opened with a Fantazia by Purcell originally written for Viol consort without continuo, which sounded absolutely authentic despite being played on modern instruments. The absence of vibrato, which was rarely used in period performances, added to the finely balanced nature of the performance.
Our audience would have been most disappointed if the Quartet had not been able to play the Schubert String Quintet, and we were most relieved that they felt able to tackle this wonderful work.
We had a near record audience for the concert – helped by the Quartet’s own ‘fan club’. Heather Tuach, the ‘cellist, is Canadian, but her roots are firmly on the west coast as her had father emigrated from Ullapool as a young man. As a result, the family turned out in force – and included Heather’s brother who had come across from Canada to hear her.
We had one other distinguished visitor in Jim Hammerlee who has known the Quartet since their 1970s residency at Brucknell University where he was an academic. In spite of advancing years, this remarkable man made the trip to the UK not only to hear the Quartet play, but also to visit all the previous members of the quartet, and their families - a very loyal friend and admirer indeed.
We do hope that the audience who turned out to hear the Fitzwilliams will come back on Friday 11 December for out Festive concert with Thistle Brass. They have promised some ‘festive spirit’, and we’ll add to this with our usual mulled wine and mince pies as a wee treat to our audience. We have also arranged that the Town House car park is available to our patrons exclusively, and you just have to tell Angus, the attendant (and City poet) that you are coming to the concert to be admitted.
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