I've been listening happily to a wonderful performance of Schubert's octet, live, and wondering once again if our ideas about great music are too wedded to the notion of earnest music.
Here's a case in point. The octet seems to want to convey no great struggles, no lofty contrapuntal ambitions, but simply to beguile. And yet in doing so it walks in a sort of garden of Eden that is perhaps the highest plane that music can reach.
And Schubert seems to acknowledge this by his quotation, at the start of the last movement, of the question he posed in the piano accompaniment to Die Götter Griechenlands: Schöne Welt, wo bist du? – Beautiful world, where are you? He would also use this motif in another composition – I will irritate you by leaving you to remember which one!
But back to this performance. It's chamber music at its best. There is a sense that the music can do no wrong. That from the first note, we can relax; the work will unfold effortlessly. I love when you're playing and that happens. I still recall a performance of the Mozart piano and wind quintet and that sense that I no longer had to make any judgements or decisions – everything was simply happening.
Of course, Michael Collins earns his star billing here. Just listen to the effortless quality of his playing, from the way he floats above the theme of the adagio to the joyous end of the scherzo. But listen, too, to the other wind players. That's some mighty fine bassoon playing from Robin O'Neill for a start.
Eight players, utterly on top of their game here. Enjoy!
Live from Champs Hill in Sussex, 29 March 2012
Michael Collins (clarinet),
Doric Quartet, Richard Watkins (horn),
Robin O'Neill (bassoon), Lynda Houghton (double bass)
M4a tagged and tracked at about 320 KBS VBR
Download from Rapidshare
Here's a case in point. The octet seems to want to convey no great struggles, no lofty contrapuntal ambitions, but simply to beguile. And yet in doing so it walks in a sort of garden of Eden that is perhaps the highest plane that music can reach.
And Schubert seems to acknowledge this by his quotation, at the start of the last movement, of the question he posed in the piano accompaniment to Die Götter Griechenlands: Schöne Welt, wo bist du? – Beautiful world, where are you? He would also use this motif in another composition – I will irritate you by leaving you to remember which one!
But back to this performance. It's chamber music at its best. There is a sense that the music can do no wrong. That from the first note, we can relax; the work will unfold effortlessly. I love when you're playing and that happens. I still recall a performance of the Mozart piano and wind quintet and that sense that I no longer had to make any judgements or decisions – everything was simply happening.
Of course, Michael Collins earns his star billing here. Just listen to the effortless quality of his playing, from the way he floats above the theme of the adagio to the joyous end of the scherzo. But listen, too, to the other wind players. That's some mighty fine bassoon playing from Robin O'Neill for a start.
Eight players, utterly on top of their game here. Enjoy!
Live from Champs Hill in Sussex, 29 March 2012
Michael Collins (clarinet),
Doric Quartet, Richard Watkins (horn),
Robin O'Neill (bassoon), Lynda Houghton (double bass)
M4a tagged and tracked at about 320 KBS VBR
Download from Rapidshare