BRITTEN OBOE QUARTET - CAMBRIDGE SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL
Britten Oboe Quartet
When you play quite as spectacularly in the Britten Sinfonia, why not go one further and create a quartet out of the crème de la crème? That is precisely what the personable Nicholas Daniel did a few years ago - and the result is a divine distillation of artistry . It appears effortless, even casual but the Britten Oboe Quartet magic up warmth of tone and a precision of play .Last night’s performance was one of those nights where you feel genuinely privileged to have been there when it happened.
Nicholas Daniel showed the depth and versatility of the oboe, its heart-warming sound in the lower registers and its stunning higher reaches.. He recounted a little anecdote about Britten’s composition of the Phantasy Quartet; the oboist had asked him, in a cheeky request, for a bit of a rest at the beginning of the piece . Britten took note of this. After the string trio opened with a long intro, the oboist’s first note was just about the top of its range a long high wail of a start. That showed him who was in charge. We heard that note last night as the quartet gave us Britten’s lovely, jagged bright invention - a masterpiece in itself. Is it age or familiarity but does Britten’s music get more and more satisfying ?
Mozart’s Flute Quartet was a delightful easy listen . There was an almost audible exhale of joy around its balance and bounce and Jaqueline Shave on the violin rendered it wonderfully with her relaxed yet concise strings.As with Judith Busbridge’s viola in the later Mozart Oboe quartet in F. the sound blended to perfection - with of course Nicholas on the sensuous soothing oboe.
Thea Musgrave, a personal friend of Nicholas Daniel dazzled with a short ‘Cantilena’ - like a fractured sheet of glass in the sun, it gave off shots of light throughout, a tour de force of modern music. . She is of course best known for her concerti and dramatic works, but just for the record Thea Musgave is now 95 years old and working on her own latest opera libretto.
I absolutely loved the penultimate piece of the evening. Taken from the well known Danish Trad the quartet gave us Sønderho Bridal Trilogy. The warmth of the oboe and the lilting cello played by Caroline Dearnley combined with strings of violin and viola to evoke a tender sound of heart-stirring longing for a time and space just beyond our everyday experience. Tears were near.
It was the Franciscans who brought running water to Cambridge in their foundation opposite Sainsbury’s. Now it is Sidney Sussex College, a perfect new ( to me anyway) venue in a lovely chapel on the place where the monks once sang.
Sidney Sussex College - with Chapel
