Kirklees’ Dewsbury Chamber Music Season resumed with a healthy crowd feasting themselves on soup and Mozart. A change to the originally published programme brought in Hans Gal’s Serenade in place of Bela Bartok, but the two Mozart pieces remained unchanged.
Most of this season consists of small ensembles from Opera North – and so it was for the opener, six musicians in various combinations playing three works. The informality of these concerts, with lunch-time refreshments and the musicians amiably introducing the works, has built a considerable following – and it was no surprise to hear violinist Byron Parish confess that he knew nothing of Hans Gal’s music until two weeks ago!
Gal in fact was an Austrian Jew who settled in Edinburgh after arriving in Britain in 1938. He is comparatively little known not because of wildly experimental compositions (such would have fitted late 20th century taste), but because his resolutely tonal music was out of step with the age. His Serenade for clarinet, violin and cello is an attractive work, particularly in the writing for clarinet, attractively played by Andrew Mason, and frequently reminiscent of Finzi. With Lydia Dobson on cello, the essentially sunny nature of the work came through, the boisterous Burletta one of the few parts to disturb the serenity.
On either side of this were works by Mozart. The Kegelstatt Trio for clarinet, viola and piano rather mysteriously refers to a place where skittles are played and it is very much a piece written for friends – Mozart himself played viola at its first performance. Unlike the final Flute Quartet, all three instruments get equal weighting and, as viola player Anne Trygstad pointed out, the interlocking of the three instruments (Annette Saunders on piano) is what makes it so attractive.
Flautist Luke O’Toole shone in the quartet for flute, violin, viola and cello. His flamboyant attack, especially in the final Rondeau, contrasted with the strings who mostly operated as a unit, a sort of string quartet minus one violin. Only the short Adagio (a wistful, even sad, aria for flute over pizzicato strings) disturbed the mood and that came to an abrupt end with the entry of the finale.
Reviewed on 11th September 2024
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Attractive chamber concert
