RSNO Chamber Ensemble

Cottier’s Theatre, Glasgow

Michael Tumelty

THERE is a never-ending discussion about why Schubert left so many works only partially-completed, a good one for pub talk.

Even better, however, that some of these torsos (if that’s what they are) have found a life in the concert hall and on disc.

It was rewarding to hear two of them, the single-movement B flat Major String Trio, and the one completed movement of D703, the famous Quartettsatz, so lightly and melodically-played on a warm Sunday afternoon in Cottier’s with players from the RSNO bringing an airy quality to the Trio, and a genuinely restless, dramatic rustling to the Quartettsatz.

Then the group bigged-up to six, and quite a line-up, with leader Maya Iwabuchi, principal second violin, Xander van Vliet, violists Tom Dunn (principal) and Francesca Hunt, with cellists Alexei Kiseliov (principal) and Betsy Taylor in a very fine performance of Brahms’ First String Sextet that will be remembered for a long time.

There was a secret to the great success of this performance, and it was to do with weight and momentum.

Brahms is a genuine heavyweight, of course, but I have heard too many performances that seem to apply that quality literally and physically, with the result some pages of the piece can sound over-weighty, laboured and, at the very worst, bogged down.

(For many years, as a young man, I loathed Brahms for these very qualities: and they weren’t his!)

The RSNO players’ performance had a superb sense of balance between top and bottom of the texture, translucence around the viola lines, and a gently well-sprung rhythm, with a buoyant momentum.

It never dragged; I loved it.