A fiery start to the new season at Wigmore Hall
Post categories: Beethoven, NGA, New Generation Artists, Shostakovich, Wigmore Hall, chamber music, lunchtime concerts, string quartet
|09:54 UK Time, Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Wow! What a start to the new season! There'd been quite a buzz about the young string quartet Meta4 from Finland but it was my first time experiencing them live. It was a performance of Shostakovich's 4th Quartet which blew us away, fiery, passionate, and troubled yet played with such depth and conviction. These four young musicians are fabulous communicators; individually each one is a great performer but the teamwork brought forth a beautiful sound and intensity.
They captivated the audience, standing to perform right at the front of the stage and the cheers which went up at the end of the piece were rightly deserved. One member of the audience said to me afterwards "you've got the best job in the world", and yesterday that was certainly true. No wonder I look forward to my Wigmore Mondays when everything comes together: this great building with its history of memorable performances going back over so many years, and programming which brings together the stars of today with the names of the future. And just for the record, violinist Minna Pensola goes straight to the top of the 'shoes of the series' chart.
Fiona Talkington is a presenter at BBC Radio 3
- The concert will be repeated on Saturday at 1400 or you can listen again on the Radio 3 web site for the next 5 days.
- There's a fascinating video from Fiona on the Radio 3 web site explaining how the lunchtime concerts are made (scroll down to the bottom of the page) and the Wigmore Hall's web site has a full programme for the season.
- Meta4 are part of Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme.
- The pictures were taken during Meta4's morning rehearsal by Steve Bowbrick.
Comment number 1.
At 13:27 16th Sep 2009, french frank wrote:I heard them at the excellent NGA Prom event in the Cadogan Hall, playing Haydn, followed by the Bree Allegro for 4 string quartets (they had to sit down for that one!). They and the other quartets made for a thoroughly enjoyable concert.
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Comment number 2.
At 14:43 16th Sep 2009, kleines c wrote:Meta4 sounded good on the radio, french frank and Fiona Talkington, although unfortunately, on both occasions, I missed them live.
The NGA weekend was certainly one of the highlights of the 2009 Proms Season, we made it to Cadogan Hall on the Bank Holiday Monday, and the atmosphere was terrific.
I still prefer Wigmore Hall, however, and let us hope that you capture the magic of these live lunchtime recitals on BBC Radio 3.
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Comment number 3.
At 08:35 25th Sep 2009, pianofanatic wrote:Does anyone else agree with me that whilst Cedric Tiberghien's Scarbo (From Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, Wigmore Hall Wednesday lunchtime recital), was impressive in its technical grasp, it was played TOO FAST, too hurried? I have a suspicion that Ravel was unable to play his own pieces because of their technical difficulty (probably why he sent out for a copy of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes for instruction whilst composing). However, Scarbo - his most difficult piece, at least as far as I'm concerned - seems to be a magnet for many of the current crop of young virtuosi, yet taken at a steadier pace, it sounds more musical, more sinister (with a touch of humour) and less of a distraction from its musical content. Frankly, I'm getting a bit fed up of listening to these young clone pianists (I'm not including Cedric Tiberghien in this catagory), especially orientals, who seem to have amazing techniques and all sound the same. Most of them play too fast.
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