Last season, we had a great time at the concerts at the
splendid venue known as Radialsystem V, a remade factory on the banks of the
river near the Ostbahnhof. So when we started planning this season's music, what more
obvious place to start.
Paul assured me that I would love the Schubert string
quintet, and that the five artists performing it – the Cuarteto Casal and
Eckart Runge -- were top notch, so off we set (no longer a trek from my new
home!) for a whole evening of chamber music. Not a vocalist to be heard!
I must say, if I am going to listen to chamber music, I like
it to be in a ‘chamber’. Like the bunker in Jersey. Intimate surroundings, not
a vast concert-hall. Radialsystem, with its 350-odd seats fits the bill nicely.
We arrived early, to have a little BBQ supper on the
terrace, but alas spring is not officially here, nor yet the BBQ, so we had to
make do with a healthy mushroom risotto as prelude to our music. Not quite up
to the really delicious food of the previous night, at the Deutsche Oper Café, but
more suitable for a grey muffled-up evening al fresco!
About this time I had a thought. One quintet does not a
concert make: what else were we going to hear? Boccherini? C18th music? Oh. A
brand new cello duo? Always like something new. And a little bit of de Falla
for topping. Well, we were going to get some variety. And we did: if not
quite what I’d expected.
The Boccherini ‘Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid’ was
a total, charming, characterful joy. Not eighteenth-century stiff and mannered
at all. And everyone clearly enjoyed playing it. The ‘modernistic’ little
pizzicato plinks of the second violin won me utterly. Who'd have thought Boccherini could be such fun!
Lucio Franco Amanti’s new piece really sounded the more
‘old’ of the two. It was pleasant music, but I couldn’t hear much in it that
related to its supposed subject of ‘Sancho’s Dream’. Or any sort of a dream.
More like two glorious celli talking to each other, wide awake, very politely, and
sometimes in an odd kind of unison. However, the composer was obviously and
rightly delighted with his artists’ performance, and we (alas, the house was
barely half full) applauded him and them roundly.
The De Falla rounded things off in bright Spanish style, and
after a Pause we were ready for Schubert.
Well, Paul was right. I did love it. Some bits more than
others. The second movement especially, and all of the soft and gentle bits.
Truly beautiful music, which has you perching on your seat, with a back almost
as arched straight as that of the wonderful lady violinist. When the vigorous
and loud bits come, you can relax back in your chair. Because if Schubert’s
soft bits sound special, his loud bits sound (to uninitiated me) pretty much
like those of all his contemporaries.
I think if Schubert were around today (and I were his
editor) I would eliminate some or all of the da capo sections. I know they were
expected, as part of the form, in his time, but I groaned inwardly each time I
saw the players turn a page … backwards. We’ve heard that … Which brings
another irreverent thought. Why do they have pages? Singers perform a 5-hour
opera without dots. Why do instrumentalists need pages?
So, we have had another successful and enjoyable night at Radialsystem.
String playing so superb, that I quite forgot to miss the singing!
We are booked for a return visit already …
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