6 July 2008
The Allegri Quartet
Haydn Quart Opus 64 No 6 in E flat
Bartok Quartet No 3
Beethoven Quartet Opus 59 No 1 in F
This evening the 'cello desk was occupied by Bruno Schrecker, who founded this Festival over thirty years ago. Needless to state he was greeted by great enthusiasm by the audience! In the Haydn we saw again that sense of enjoyment that the Allegri so often manage to convey - that sense of four friends playing for their own entertainment, who have invited us to join the fun. The playing was delicate, playful and altogether enchanting.
Bruno heralded a programme change when he introduced the second piece by saying that he was never especially fond of the Bartok Quartet No 3 during his working life. So instead of the Bartok we had Dvorak's American Quartet - of which Bruno said "it is so beautiful that if you don't like it, then I don't think I can like you!" - a stricture accepted by the audience in the spirit in which it was intended. The Allegri performed with a spaciousness that allowed those famous melodies to breathe without being stretched to breaking point, and with a sense of rhythmic excitement that took us all into the interval with smiles on our faces.
Things became a little more serious in the second half - although the first of Beethoven's Rasoumovsky Quartets is by no means a grief-laden or angst-ridden piece, in spite of a desperately sad slow movement, it is certainly not frivolous salon music. Again we heard a performance which was fresh and full of excitement, even though the musicians must have performed it tens of times in their careers.
Rachel Wright
Committee Member