Real treat for Crieff
For many music lovers the string quartet is the ideal form, combining as it does agility with power and intimacy with drama.
These were qualities fully in evidence during the Brodick Quartet’s performance in Crieff’s St Andrew’s Halls on Wednesday last week as part of Strathearn Music Society’s series of concerts.
The Brodick Quartet is a group of young Scottish-based musicians who have impressive individual CVs as soloists, chamber and orchestral musicians.
Together they make up an engaging and talented ensemble.
In a well-balanced programme, which encompassed familiar and lesser-known work from the 18th the 20th centuries, they enchanted and delighted the audience.
The opening piece, John Corigliano’s Snapshot: Circa 1909, would have been unfamiliar to most of the audience. Based on a photograph of the composer’s father and uncle as boys, the piece explores the discoveries and dreams of a young musician.
The wistful aspiration of the violins is supported effectively by the guitar-like plucking of the other instruments.
This was followed by Mozart’s G major Quartet (K387) which was played with youthful exuberance and a lively ear for the humour and melodrama of the piece.
Following the interval we heard Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet in D Major (Op11) with its well-known second movement, based on the Song of the Volga Boatmen.
There was plenty of character to the performance with drama, pathos and humour all given full expression.
It is no surprise at all that the audience demanded, and were granted, an encore.
Timgad, an arrangement of a piece by Kletzmer Band Moishe’s Bagel, was an unexpected but thoroughly appreciated close to a very enjoyable evening.
Members of the Brodick Quartet evidently enjoy playing together and are keen communicators, both between themselves and with their audience.
Their enthusiasm is infectious and is matched by their musical skill.
They are worth travelling to listen to but we were fortunate to have them right on our doorstep.