Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Endellion
For the record, last week to hear the Endellion String Quartet again. No idea how many times we have heard this lot, but it must be a lot more times than we have heard anybody else, mainly as a result of their having been regulars at Dorking for some years. Last occasion recorded being around January 28th. One factor in their favour being their retention of the custom of dressing properly. For evening concerts they dress formally; showing respect for the occasion. This music was not written casually and was not intended to be performed casually - so smart casual not the right dress code. One might relax a bit for a different sort of programme.
This one was big. Started off with Beethoven Op. 18 No. 3, on through Mendelssohn Op. 80 to Beethoven Op. 131. A relatively gentle start, warming up before the interval and the hots after the interval. BH thought that the Quartet was more or less wrung out by the end.
For once, I think because I bought the tickets when Chrome was crashing Flashdance and which were, as a result, allocated by computer rather than by me, we were sitting on the right hand side of Wigmore Hall, about half way down, in the left hand side of the right hand aisle. The result of this seemed to be that the cello came across with a rougher, more strident tone than I was used to from the left hand side of the hall.
One oddity during Op. 131. The cello and viola were having an intense duet while the two violins rested up a bit. First violin stares, wide eyed at the cellist and appears to be mouthing something. What he was doing, or whether the cellist noticed, I have no idea. In any event, he soon had to stop mouthing to pick up his own entry.
# posted by Jim @ 11:57 PM 
