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Dvořák and Korngold: Krzysztof Smietana (violin), Matthijs Broersma (cello), Lara Dodds-Eden (piano), Arisa Fujita (violin), Anna-Liisa Bezrodny (violin), Tetsuumi Nagata (viola), Louise Hopkins (cello), Caroline Palmer (piano), Music Hall, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Silk Street, London, 19.5.2008 (BBr)

Antonin Dvořák: Piano Trio in F minor, op.65 (1883)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Piano Quintet in E, op.15 (1922)

Here are two chamber works which have pretentions to symphonic music, so big are their gestures, which need to be approached with care for there are many problems with balance due to the thick textures employed.

It was unfortunate that the Dvořák Trio fell into the trap. As is usual with Dvořák, this work is generously filled with melody, singing, beautiful melodies well laid out for the instruments, with a strong and full accompaniment. Smietana, what a fine violinist he is, and Broersma rose to the challenge most successfully relishing their roles and giving a fine performance. They were partnered well by Lara Dodds-Eden, who is obviously a fine pianist, but she failed to bring any poetry to the performance, playing far too loudly all the time and obliterating some of the string work. I did wonder, at first, if it was the hall which was at fault and perhaps the use of the short stick on the lid would make a difference, but I, later, found that I was wrong.

It was a good performance which could have been so much better with more thought from Dodds-Eden, and, after the second movement, I stopped listening for the sound was too much for me.

With this in mind I worried about the Korngold Quintet which is a very fully scored work, but I need not have bothered. From the very first chord Caroline Palmer, always a very reliable and intelligent pianist, underpinned the strings with a subtlety and care which allowed the strings to really shine. Like so much Korngold this is hothouse stuff and can so easily sound thick and ponderous. Not tonight for the musicians were well aware of the scoring and they understood exactly how the music worked and progressed – they played it as if they’d been playing it as a matter of course all their lives. There were no stars just a well thought out and integrated performance. One could feel the musicians enjoyment of the work and in the preposterously silly Finale, Korngold had a fine sense of humour and was wont to pop a lot of jokes in his finales, their joy at the fun was obvious.

For too long Korngold suffered the stigma of being an “Hollywood composer” but as we are allowed to hear these earlier works it becomes obvious that he only ever wrote the music he believed in, which was his music. My head is filled with the glorious sweep of the very first theme and the players launching themselves into it wholeheartedly. What a magnificent, and memorable, performance of a great Piano Quintet. I have known this music for 35 years, from an LP and the occasional radio broadcast, and this was the first time I had ever heard it in the flesh – with a performance of such superb advocacy it was well worth the wait. Oh to hear these string players in the 1^st Quartet! I want more from them.

Although this concert was a joint faculty/student production it was impossible, without prior knowledge, to know which performers were student and which faculty. It’s very satisfying to know that there’s a fine young generation of musicians out there ready to perform for us with such intelligence and insight. Bravo.

Bob Briggs


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