Festival du Comminges, 08/08/2018
Ravel : String Quartet
Fauré : Nocturnes Nos. 1 & 6
Franck : Piano Quintet
Carducci Quartet
Matthew Denton, violin
Michelle Fleming, violin
Eoin Schmidt-Martin, viola
Emma Denton, cello
Nicolas Stavy, piano
Ravel's String Quartet is an early work, and consciously modelled on that of Debussy, composed ten years earlier, but its overall mood is very typical of Ravel, restrained, elegant, and somewhat enigmatic. In the hands of the Carducci Quartet, it came through as a kind of painterly vision, a study in textures, detailed and precise. I felt the first movement was a little slow, or else the slow movement was a little fast, because there wasn't a very marked difference in tempo between them, but other than that the performance was excellent, with the last movement a tightly controlled hum of energy.
The two Fauré Nocturnes might have been included to give the Quartet a little breathing space (concerts in this church are now usually performed without interval), but it was also perhaps a game of Six Degrees of Separation. Ravel was one of Fauré's students at the Conservatoire, and had dedicated the Quartet to his teacher. Fauré had not been particularly appreciative of the work, however, which echoed the reaction of his teacher and mentor, Saint-Saëns, to Franck's Piano Quintet, which had been dedicated to Saint-Saëns and of which he gave the first performance.
Fauré's thirteen Nocturnes span his entire career, over 45 years, and his development as a composer is charted quite clearly. The First opens with a kind of prologue, in which the influence of Chopin is quite clear, though it dissipates once Fauré shifts into a more unsettled movement, sobre and refined. By contrast, the Sixth, probably the best known, is instantly recognisable as Fauré, the melodic material distinctly reminiscent of several of his songs. Stavy rendered the flowing, rippling style with fluent grace, avoiding unnecessary ostentation.
His discretion went maybe a shade too far in the Franck Quintet. This intense, passionate, brooding work is highly demanding on all the players and requires carefully judged balance between the instruments, and Stavy could have been a bit more forward, in my opinion. That said, however, this was a superb performance, Stavy unfaltering in the cascades of notes required of the pianist, while the Carduccis, in a type of music that requires more homogeneity than the Ravel, delivered a rich and resonant sound, ardently lyrical from start to finish.
[Next : 13th August]
Fauré : Nocturnes Nos. 1 & 6
Franck : Piano Quintet
Carducci Quartet
Matthew Denton, violin
Michelle Fleming, violin
Eoin Schmidt-Martin, viola
Emma Denton, cello
Nicolas Stavy, piano
Ravel's String Quartet is an early work, and consciously modelled on that of Debussy, composed ten years earlier, but its overall mood is very typical of Ravel, restrained, elegant, and somewhat enigmatic. In the hands of the Carducci Quartet, it came through as a kind of painterly vision, a study in textures, detailed and precise. I felt the first movement was a little slow, or else the slow movement was a little fast, because there wasn't a very marked difference in tempo between them, but other than that the performance was excellent, with the last movement a tightly controlled hum of energy.
The two Fauré Nocturnes might have been included to give the Quartet a little breathing space (concerts in this church are now usually performed without interval), but it was also perhaps a game of Six Degrees of Separation. Ravel was one of Fauré's students at the Conservatoire, and had dedicated the Quartet to his teacher. Fauré had not been particularly appreciative of the work, however, which echoed the reaction of his teacher and mentor, Saint-Saëns, to Franck's Piano Quintet, which had been dedicated to Saint-Saëns and of which he gave the first performance.
Fauré's thirteen Nocturnes span his entire career, over 45 years, and his development as a composer is charted quite clearly. The First opens with a kind of prologue, in which the influence of Chopin is quite clear, though it dissipates once Fauré shifts into a more unsettled movement, sobre and refined. By contrast, the Sixth, probably the best known, is instantly recognisable as Fauré, the melodic material distinctly reminiscent of several of his songs. Stavy rendered the flowing, rippling style with fluent grace, avoiding unnecessary ostentation.
His discretion went maybe a shade too far in the Franck Quintet. This intense, passionate, brooding work is highly demanding on all the players and requires carefully judged balance between the instruments, and Stavy could have been a bit more forward, in my opinion. That said, however, this was a superb performance, Stavy unfaltering in the cascades of notes required of the pianist, while the Carduccis, in a type of music that requires more homogeneity than the Ravel, delivered a rich and resonant sound, ardently lyrical from start to finish.
[Next : 13th August]