MUSIC

St George’s Bristol (Mon 3 Oct) It’s perfectly possible to stage a concert on a couple of rehearsals, a wing and a prayer – English orchestral musicians, famed for their sight-reading, do it all the time. But there’s a lot to be said for the musical equivalent of ‘slow food’: a chance to let a performance evolve over time, allowing the flavours to develop, the reading to mature. How to make it work financially of course is another matter, but those lucky enough to bag an Aldeburgh residency or join the international music-making at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, find a place where ‘slow food’ and ‘soul food’ meet.

This years ‘Cove-ers’ (should that be ‘covers’?) included veteran flautist William Bennett, who joined Guy Johnston and Alasdair Beatson for an aristocratic account of Haydn’s Trio Hob XV:15 at the start of the out-of-Duchy leg of this autumn’s spell in the kitchen. Perhaps to justify Bennett’s presence – and introduce an unfamiliar work, Prussia Cove likes to go off-piste – there was also a flute quintet by Beethoven’s pupil and biographer Ferdinand Ries. It was the sort of not-quite-successful piece that really needs the luxury of a lengthy Prussia Cove marinade to make the most of what’s there, and if Bennett was occasionally a little over-emphatic in pleading its cause, the rapport and commitment were mesmerising (cellist Marie Macleaod living every note as if her life depended on it).

After such intensity a bit of an interval breather would have fallen gladly on the ear, but Prussia Cove wasn’t just serving up slow food and was bent on a slightly over-filling banquet as Mozart’s mighty D major String Quintet was brought steaming to the table, seasoned with heartfelt eloquence – and, in the first movement, a seething, pent-up muscular energy, the load-bearing counterpoint as solid as an RSJ, the poignant moment towards the end of the slow movement, fragile and touching almost to the point of the unbearable. Elevated and elevating music-making worth the price of the ticket alone. Yet there was still Beethoven’s ‘Archduke Trio’ to come and, on all the evidence, likely to be edge-of-seat stuff.

It didn’t disappoint. Esher Hoppe replaced William Bennett in the Haydn line-up, and if the rich detailing of the first few minutes threatened to impede the music’s flow, preciousness was averted; the Scherzo disclosed layers of subtlety usually glossed over, and maintaining Beethoven’s tempo marking, what the slow movement lost in spaciousness it gained in the sense of forward movement (the interplay of the strings breathtaking alongside Beatson’s effortlessly nuanced pianism). The transition into the finale was explosive, Beatson flashing a devilish look at Hoppe that said “hold on tight” before the sparks started to fly. They didn’t just fly; by the time Beethoven had ratcheted up the speed for the coda, conflagration seemed inevitable – even the page-turner was finding it hard to suppress a gleeful smile. Tomorrow (Wed 5 Oct), the Gould Piano Trio embarks on a complete Beethoven piano trio cycle at St George’s. Prussia Cove has set the bar impossibly high for the ‘Archduke’! (Paul Riley)

Copyright Paul Riley 2011