Proms Chamber Music 7 - 26.08.13: Maconchy & Brahms

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

1.00pm – c. 2.00pm
Cadogan Hall

Maconchy
String Quartet No. 3 (11 mins)
Brahms
Piano Quintet in F minor (40 mins)

Signum Quartet
Christian Ihle Hadland piano

Nearly 21 years after her death, Elizabeth Maconchy remains one of 20th-century Britain's most alluring forgotten voices. International in outlook, she wrote music of great lyricism and subtlety, closer to the soundworld of central Europe than the English musical establishment. Today Radio 3 New Generation Artists the Signum Quartet perform Maconchy's Bartok-influenced String Quartet No 3, before joining forces with fellow NGA, Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland, for Brahms's evergreen Piano Quintet.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... though I'd never really thought of Elizabeth Maconchy as "lyrical", but with this in mind, I'll give it a fresh hearing.

[bluestateprommer]

I can't possibly be the only person here who heard this PCM on iPlayer, but the lack of comments makes me wonder. However, I'll admit that by the exalted standards of the earlier PCM's this season, this one fell a bit short for me. The Brahms Piano Quintet, obviously the major work on the program in terms of running time, received a rather mellow performance from CAH and the Signum Quartet. It lacked dramatic tension to me, but maybe I'm used to more high-octane American renditions, as I've heard it a few times live.

The Maconchy quartet received a very fine performance from the Signum Quartet. I'll admit that I don't quite "get it", after giving it a couple of hearings. It's not "difficult" harmonically in any way, so that's not the issue. Maybe if I live long enough, I'll have to track down the recordings of her quartets to give them a fuller go. The string quartet seemed to be her preferred medium of compositional choice, from the little I know about her.