CARDUCCI STRING QUARTET Grassington Town Hall 17 June
NICHOLAS DANIEL - oboe
For the Gala Concert during the Festival, the Carducci delighted the audience with their opening piece; Haydn's 'Joke' Quartet. This is a light and frothy work and was played with the verve and panache it deserves.
It was followed by the Ravel Quartet in F major, one of the greatest quartets in the French repertoire. The lushness of tone, colour and texture of this performance would be difficult to surpass.
After the interval we heard Nicholas Daniel, oboe, playing 'Into the Ravine' by Michael Berkeley written especially for this quintet. This was a taxing piece and quite hard for the audience to understand, as it was constantly changing direction and at times seemed to lose its way.
The Arnold Bax Oboe Quintet was much easier for the audience to follow and had fascinating stretches of pizzicato and lively jig rhythms.
The quartet came back to earth with a wonderful Shostokovitch encore and the evening finished on a high note.
The Carducci continues to be one of the finest ensembles in the country and their playing in Grassington always sustained their customary high standard.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here