CHRISTOPHER SMITH The Assembly House, Norwich (Norfolk and Norwich Festival)
CHRISTOPHER SMITH
The Assembly House, Norwich (Norfolk and Norwich Festival)
An early Mozart Divertimento was just the thing to give a good start to this lunchtime recital by the Royal Academy of Music's Oldak Quartet. High spirited and light hearted, it began with the first and second violins (Maria Oldak and Andrew Harvey) neatly imitating one another's phrasing.
The more steadily placed Andante then gave the cellist Morwenna Del Mar a chance to make her well calculated contribution with elegance and warm tone. The last movements skipped along without a care in the world.
The Toreador's Prayer, by Joaquin Turina, called for a complete change of style. The four players coped admirably. Catching the lilt of Spanish rhythms and hinting at the throbbing of guitars, they took the audience on a journey through a maze of passions. It was a pity that the programme offered no note to guide our responses more precisely.
For three movements from the Five Tango Sensations by the Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla the accordionist Milos Milivojevic joined the quartet. His instrument added its special sound and character to the strings, and the fugal finale came off particularly well.
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