The latest student reviews for Sinfonia Cymru - giving young people a voice in classical music...
Review: ‘Quartête-à-tête!' Dora Stoutzker Hall, Cardiff, 23rd March 2012
© Alice Hughes, BA Cardiff University
“How do you do?” is the endearingly courteous question posed by Haydn’s celebrated string quartet in G major, and those present at Friday’s lunchtime concert at the Dora Stoutzker Hall will have surely concluded that Sinfonia Cymru’s prodigious musicians did very well indeed.
It would be easy to allow a performance of such a well known and melody-heavy chamber piece to descend into cliché, but the youthful exuberance of this talented quartet meant that the common trappings associated with such syrupy diatonicism were neatly avoided. All four players delivered stellar performances but, the second violin, viola and cello parts being largely chordal, this piece really is a vehicle for the talents of the first violinist, whose delicate rendering of the solo melodic passages was buoyant and light, with a judicious deployment of spiccato bowing providing a real sense of forward momentum.
As accomplished as the Haydn was, it was merely an appetising little choux bun served up as an entrée to the meaty sensory banquet that is Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet. An intense and emotionally charged response to the Second World War, you’d be hard pushed to find a more polarised complement to the preceding music on the programme, and it is testament to the musicians’ versatility and professionalism that they were able to enter the mindsets of such divergent soundworlds with equal panache.
The virtuosic and rhythmically complex writing in this quartet gave all four players the opportunity to perform with full-bodied musicality. There was a certain rawness to the violist’s poignant playing, and the cellist’s coarse and eye-wateringly dexterous bowing in the second movement was deliciously violent in its attack. Overall, a restrained use of vibrato was instrumental in avoiding over-sentimentality in the Largo movements.
This potent and focused recital was received by an entranced audience; the prolonged pause that followed the final bars of Shostakovich’s miniature masterpiece was that rare thing: a genuine awed silence. All in all, another consummate performance from Sinfonia Cymru’s exceptionally gifted musicians.
***
Review: Quartête-à-tête! The Riverfront, Newport, 7th March 2012
© Peter Wagstaff, BMus Cardiff University
Haydn’s ‘How do you do?’ certainly was well chosen to showcase the energy for which the players of Sinfonia Cymru are justifiably known, and it was charming (not to mention thoroughly entertaining!) to watch these spirited young players having such fun with a Classical, potentially over-conservative, repertoire piece.
The technical challenges which Haydn throws at his performers were executed gracefully and with apparent ease, and the 18th-century idiomatic nuances were perfectly convincing - unashamed use of open strings was particularly refreshing. What’s more, the performance wasn’t plagued by the over-articulation which is so often the result of such laudable enthusiasm. The Largo allowed the lead violinist to show off what seems to be a remarkable talent for expressive communication, and the Scherzo was characterised by the cheeky subtlety and feigned inhibition which justifies its label.
While the ensemble largely maintained a good voice balance, the viola could have made its presence felt rather more forcibly, especially in the “gyrating arpeggios” which, when transferred to the cello, were executed with panache.
The Shostakovich presents something of a minefield, with potential for disaster in technical rendering, clarity of expression and ‘tightness’ of the ensemble. There was an audible reluctance from the first desk to depart from the playfulness of the Haydn and this time it was the second violinist who set the mood, indulging in a disconcerting and unbalanced affekt of sorrow and macabre. The players switched ably between a lyrical legato and powerful attack, and the viola seemed finally to embrace the new mood. Minefield safely, and enjoyably, navigated. Phew.
Sinfonia Cymru is well acquainted with The Riverfront venue, and the familiar acoustic, along with a healthy sized following which the orchestra has accumulated over the years, helped turn an interesting and technically excellent performance into one which was also atmospheric and exciting.
Should you go to the repeat performance? No question.
Friday 23rd March at 13:15: Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Dora Stoutzker Hall. Budget price entry!
***
Review: Sinfonia Cymru 'Phantasy & Septacular!' Dora Stoutzker Hall, Cardiff, 10th February 2012
© Peter Wagstaff, BMus Cardiff University
“Another superb performance by Sinfonia Cymru” is now so established a prefix to any review that it hardly seems worth writing again. This concert had something different, however.
These talented young players breathed new life into repertoire which, in the case of the Beethoven especially, is a staple of the chamber ensemble. Britten’s Phantasy Quartet – a less-performed piece – was more interesting still. Talent aside, it takes countless hours of painstaking practice to get this piece, so disjunctive in its scoring, to feel like a cohesive whole, but this they achieved indefatigably. Whilst maintaining their characteristic intensity, the players brilliantly communicated the leisurely English folksiness which Britten still embraced, aged only nineteen. Even the visible animation of the bowing added to the dynamism of this performance. Articulation was clearly at the forefront of the players’ minds, and Ms Bennington even managed to match the quasi-percussive string texture on her oboe.
The audience had a whole different set of expectations for Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat major; a piece which has remained one of the composer’s most popular since it was published in 1800. Each player displayed exceptional skill in this fiddly piece: Mr Macdonald’s runs on the horn; Ms Nolan’s masterful manipulation of the top register of her cello; Mr Watkins’ spritely violin cadenza; all were dazzlingly executed. It was Mr Mottram on the clarinet, however, who really grasped the sensibility of the piece, taking a rare opportunity to snatch the lead away from the violin.
The first movement betrayed a few instances in which the ensemble felt less than unified, but the creases separating the strings from wind seemed to be ironed out as the piece wore on. What’s more, occasional moments of overenthusiastic bowing from the strings resulted in some harmonics not likely to appear in the score, but I confess it did add a little je ne sais quoi to the excitable atmosphere.
The acoustic was ideally suited, the audience zealously supportive. All in all, an excellent concert, and a promising start to Sinfonia Cymru’s new season.
