Those of us who attended this year’s classical concert witnessed a quite remarkable session of chamber music playing – one of the very best classical performances we have had at the festival in its 41 years. As BBC New Generation artists, they were expected to be good, but nothing prepared us for the dynamism they injected into their performance. They began with Haydn. Often, performances of Haydn have a mannered 18th Century feel to them, but this was defintively 21st Century Haydn. The Christ Church classic Broadwood piano was made to produce sounds we have never heard from it before, more like those of a modern instrument. The dynamism continued with a Mendelssohn trio, but the second half of the concert, featuring French music from circa 1900, went into a contrasting landscape of broad imprssionistic harmonies. And there was a delightful encore of an Argentinian dance. Do watch out for this trio as their career progresses. The only snag is that the committee will find it hard to stage something even better next year. But they will try.
Remarkable Chamber Music Playing
