CULTURED, TASTEFUL STRING PLAYING

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32118, 14 October 1969, Page 18

CULTURED, TASTEFUL STRING PLAYING

String playing, cultured and tasteful, was heard last evening in the final Chamber Music Society subscription concert for the year. At its best, as in J, J. Mouret’s "Suite d’Airs a Danser,” the captivating Gallic splendour of the performance completely won over a large audience. The authority of interpretation in these miniatures, the delicious preoccupation with detail, the exploitation of rhythmic subtleties and the hearty abandon of the Ensemble Instrumentale Andree

Colson made a memorable impression. This string orchestra of a dozen players, another famous patronymous institution, illustrates in vivid fashion the artistic advantages of the residency which allows them to develop a unified interpretative and technical approach Each member is able to contribute her (or in two cases, his) individual talent to the integrated concept planned by the leader, Andree Colson. A personal first impression was that the group lacked rhythmic vitality and impetus due to Madame Colson’s directing from the front desk but this opinion could well be the outcome of the ungallant bias of a male conductor with vested interests.

The music presented was of considerable interest. Most of it was new to Christchurch Mendelssohn’s Ninth String Symphony proved ingratiating and naive while Rossini’s Sonata in C revealed the possibilities of a quartet texture without violas and, in this performance, the great skill and artistry of Colette Neveu as a bass player.

Prokofiev’s Andante, Opus 52, a composition rich in ideas and sparse in detail, was played with conviction so that the pulsing melancholy which underlies melody, rhythm and texture came through. Jacques Charpentier’s Short Symphony for String Orchestra, a work shot through with thrustful vigour ended the concert The outside movements were all bustle, while the combination of sweet lyricism and acid har-

monies in the slow movement bordered on the incongruous but retreated in time. Only in this and the Mendelssohn Symphony were problems of intonation apparent in the upper strings. Otherwise, all was a satisfying blend of artistry and craftsmanship. Seldom do we bear viola and cello playing of such refinement and never do we look at an orchestra so conspicuously good-looking. —J. A. R,