2 July 2004

The Allegri Quartet with Rian de Waal

This first weekend of the Festival was to be devoted to the present Allegri, and the music with which we most often associate the Quartet. The concert began with Haydn's String Quartet Op 20 No5 in Fminor and Mozart's String Quartet K589 in Bflat. As part of the "retrospective" programming, the Quartet was joined by Dutch pianist Rian de Waal, who introduced the Brahms Piano Quintet as the first piece he played with the Allegri, twenty years ago. Rian was once a familiar visitor to the Festival, but recent changes have made it impossible to bring a piano into the Church. After much deliberation, the Committee decided to move the first weekend's concerts to Llanfyllin High School, where there is a good piano already in situ, so as to be able to invite Rian to return. Accustomed as we are to the acoustic of St. Myllin's Church, the much drier acoustic in the school's auditorium gave an entirely new perspective and insight to the music.