Chiaroscuro Quartet with Matthew Hunt, Chris Rawley, Alec Frank-Gemmill and Juliane Bruckmann 10th March 2022

REVIEW

Spectacular Finale to CCC Season

The regular season of Chichester Chamber Concerts concluded in spectacular fashion on Thursday [10th March] with the return of the renowned Chiaroscuro Quartet.  The Chiaroscuro had performed at CCC in February to great acclaim, but this time they brought with them an additional four distinguished musicians, Matthew Hunt (clarinet), Chris Rawley (bassoon), Alec Frank-Gemmill (horn) and Juliane Bruckmann (double bass).  The programme consisted of just two works, but what outstanding works they were!  

The concert opened with Mozart’s superb Clarinet Quintet in A major K 581.  Mozart composed the Quintet in Vienna in 1789, one of several works he wrote for Anton Stadler (another was the Clarinet Concerto in A major K 622).  Mozart became acquainted with Stadler around 1784.  He was a virtuoso performer on an instrument that was still in its infancy - it only began to feature in orchestras in the middle of the eighteenth century - and its acceptance owed much to the virtuosity of Stadler and his brother Johann.

The Quintet is a masterpiece of ensemble writing, with the clarinet blending seamlessly with the string parts rather than being a solo instrument accompanied by them.  From the quiet start of the opening Allegro it was evident that this was to be a thoughtful and polished performance; the four strings of the Chiaroscuro Quartet - led by Alina Ibragimova (violin) with Pablo Hernán Benedí (violin), Emilie Hörnlund (viola) and Claire Thirion (cello) – combining as one to provide the introduction to Matthew Hunt’s first clarinet entry.  The trios in the third movement Menuetto and Trios (of which, unusually, there are two – the first for strings alone, the second for strings and clarinet) were exquisite.  Only in the second movement (Larghetto) did I feel that Matthew Hunt’s instrument was too powerful for the gut strung Quartet, tending at times to overpower their delightful harmonic accompaniment.

No such balance problems occurred in the second piece in the programme, Schubert’s formidable Octet for Strings and Winds in F major D 803.  Here the Quartet were reinforced by the double bass of Juliane Bruckmann, often doubling the cello line, and the bassoon of Chris Rawley who more than adequately dealt with the solos of Matthew Hunt’s clarinet and the natural horn of Alec Frank-Gemmill.  This wonderful work was commissioned by Count Ferdinand Troyer, an amateur, but clearly very talented, clarinettist in the Court of Archduke Randolph.  He asked Schubert for a composition similar to Beethoven’s Septet which it resembles.  (He obviously had a higher regard for the Beethoven work than the composer himself, who allegedly said that he would have preferred that it had been burnt!)  It was written in February 1824, a period of intense activity for Schubert which included the Quartets in A minor D 804 and D minor D 810 (“Death and the Maiden”).  Unlike the Quartets however, the Octet is openhearted and optimistic.

It is a long work of six movements which places considerable demands on all the players, especially the first violin and the horn.  It is orchestral in scale.  There was much in this performance to enjoy and remember from the lively first movement, through the effortless melodious second and the jaunty clarinet solo of the third which also included an exquisite passage for the strings on their own.  The fourth movement is a theme and variations that gives each of the players an opportunity to display their individual talents.  The fifth movement had a lovely solo for the clarinet over a swaggering accompaniment while the sixth is a powerful and joyful tour de force bringing the piece at last to a triumphant and uplifting conclusion.

This was a magnificent performance by the Chiaroscuro Quartet and Friends which gave much joy to the audience and, seemingly, to the players alike.  This was music and music-making of the highest possible standard from the very first note to the final one-handed flourish of Matthew Hunt’s clarinet, all of which made for a most satisfying and enjoyable evening.

The 2022-2023 Season of Chichester Chamber Concerts starts on Thursday 6th October 2022 when the performers will be Lawrence Power (viola) and CCC’s newly-appointed president, Simon Crawford-Phillips.

Peter Andrews