Musical delights from Piatti Quartet

The Piatti Quartet is a young and dynamic ensemble, the winners of prestigious competitions, awards, and critically acclaimed recordings; theirs is a successful future ready for the taking.

I have great respect for musicians, especially string quartet members, for behind the few hours of every concert appearance lie years of private practice, days and days of quartet rehearsals, diplomacy, and much soul searching.

To open the new season of DCMMS concerts, the Piatti Quartet offered a very well structured programme of Beethoven, Ravel, and Dvorak.

In spite of the numbering, Beethoven’s Opus 18 No. 3 quartet is thought to be the first quartet he composed, and while paying homage to Haydn and Mozart’s quartets, he displayed in this early composition the inventive style he perfected in later works. The large audience appreciated the fine performance the Piattis gave.

Their sound was finely integrated, very clear and well balanced.

The presto finale, in particular, enabled them to demonstrate their considerable techniques.

Moving on a century, we then heard Ravel’s quartet.

This highly perfumed and translucent quartet was lovingly played, with much interplay between the instruments.

The warm yet delicate playing of the viola and cello provided the perfect support for the two violins to play as delicately or forcefully as required. In the second movement we heard an impressive display of pizzicato technique and the muted slow movement provided yet another palette of colours for our enjoyment.

In the second half we heard just one work, Dvorak’s G major Quartet, Opus 106. The very high standard of performance continued throughout this long work.

It was a joy to witness the visual communication the quartet displayed with each other.

If I had to single out one movement for praise, it would be the slow Adagio, in which the quartet’s glowing tone filled the entire gallery. The exciting finale was delivered with great panache. What a great start to the season.

RUSSELL DAWSON