We have lift off! Launching itself to lofty heights, Music in the Round’ s 2024 Festival of Chamber Music opened with an uplifting opening concert of exhilarating music, most splendidly performed by the world-class musicians of glorious Ensemble 360. Gabriel Faure’s Piano Quartet No 1 in C Minor Op 15, then Louise (no, not Louis!) Farrenc’s Nonet in E flat major Op 38 brought stunning variety in every way: delightful instrumental combinations, impressive solos, technical challenges a-plenty, and melodic moods from serene and sorrowful through to merrily mischievous and truly triumphant. Noisy, enthusiastic appreciation all round!
A big Faure fan is this year’s guest curator, world-renowned cellist Steven Isserlis, absent from the launch as performing in Europe but set to be at the heart of the Sheffield festival. Faure wrote Piano Quartet No 1 in C Minor Op15 between 1876 and 1879, then scrapped the last movement for a re-write in 1883. It seems he’d forgotten to put in the kitchen sink, but it’s there now and pretty impressive, too. Busy piano, violin, cello and viola take us on a wide-ranging journey of contrasts from earnest opening into fabulously playful scherzo with skipping piano and pizzicato strings and through to the beautiful intimacy of a wistful, contemplative, sighing adagio (written, it’s said, to lament the sudden end of his engagement) before embarking on the unpredictable, excitement of the finale drama with its backs and forths of dynamic build-ups and set-downs that head towards …wait for it.. wait for it… the full final flourish. Louise Farrenc’s Nonet in E flat major Op 38 (premiered in 1850) with its superb ensemble combination of string quartet and wind quintet takes us on a journey even more gloriously broad.
Though bursting with musical talent, Louise Ferrenc (1804-1875) was excluded from studying composition at the Conservatoire de Paris. Why? Well, she was a woman! But with work of such quality, melodic charm and inventive originality, she still became one of the finest nineteenth century French composers and – gasp of amazement – the Conservatoire’s first female teacher and – further gasp – the first woman to demand and receive equal pay.
Her passionate love of music making shines bright throughout this Nonet as does the players’ delight in playing it. Though Farrenc was a pianist herself the piano’s not in her mix this time. Taught by the likes of Hummel and Reicha, she composes magnificently for wind, switching focus in fabulous ways to ring out the glories and beauty of each and every instrument and player in both sections (bassoon, oboe, clarinet, flute, horn, double bass, violin, cello, viola) and interweaving breathtaking instrument combinations.
The wonderful playing of Ensemble 360 does full justice to the super moods, rich textures and melodies that flow from magical majesty and fluent loveliness into humour and romp, echoing Beethoven and Schubert along the way. Bursting with splendour and invention, beauty, colour, fun and charm, the Nonet could hardly be more captivating and invigorating, especially when played so warmly vibrant.
This year, Faure’s centenary, is also the 40th anniversary of MiR’s annual chamber Festivals, which began in 1984 with a Beethoven Fest launched by Peter Cropper and the Lyndsay Quartet. After the Lyndsay’s retired, the eleven-player, wind-string combination of Ensemble 360 was born in 2005 and since then, Music in the Round has expanded no end: concerts now tour widely across the nation, including specially composed concerts for children based on beautiful picture-story books, while extensive learning and support programmes and workshops roll out to local communities. Some of tonight’s audience were also at that 1984 launch, as, indeed, was performer of tonight’s second concert, pianist Peter Hill, this time delighting with an evening of Bach.
Jam-packed with exciting concerts, the next fortnight includes performances from special guests Steven Isserlis, singer-in-residence Roderick Williams, Jess Gillam, Maya Youssef and Stephen Hough. Exciting times!
Eileen Caiger Gray
