Review: The Gildas Quartet at the King’s Lynn Town Hall
The Gildas Quartet. Picture: Ian Dingle - Credit: Archant
The second week of the King's Lynn Festival always showcases young and exciting musicians rising to the top of their game in a series of popular coffee concerts. The first featured the superb musicianship of The Gildas Quartet.
The programme began with Haydn's Quartet in D Minor, Op 76. One of Haydn's later works, it is a sublime and formidable piece and was played with wonderful energy and assurance.
Next was Beethoven's Quartet in E Minor Op 59 No 2, one of three commissioned by Count Rasumovsky. The long adagio second movement, inspired by a contemplation of starry skies, was a highlight, as was the foot-tapping fourth movement featuring a mandatory Russian folk song element to please the Count.
The concert ended with young composer Ben Pease-Barton's Flytande, a complex and unusual piece beautifully evoking the rhythms of traditional Scandinavian music.
