Sacconi one

Last Sunday afternoon to the Dorking Halls to hear the Sacconi Quartet give the first of their three concerts there. A quartet which is now getting on for twenty years old and whom we last heard, at the same place, just about seven years ago.

As it happened, the cellist, standing in for the regular cellist who was on maternity leave, used to be the cellist for the Dante Quartet of whom we have seen rather more, including a stint at Dorking. A stint which included the very same Debussy G Minor Op.32 which we heard on the present occasion. Perhaps the cellist got it onto the programme - with the first violin admitting to there having been some discussion about what would be appropriate warming up for the Beethoven Op.131. Being of nosey disposition, we wondered what was the story behind the bland statement that he had been a member of the Dante Quartet for several years. One can imagine that leaving such a small & intense group might have a lot in common with a divorce, messy or otherwise.

The short Suk meditation, Op.35a was good, despite include some heavy breathing from the viola. A piece which seems to come in various varieties, with, for example, one of the YouTube offerings adding a double bass.

Debussy good, but a little long for me. BH liked it better.

Beethoven very good. Sound excellent, a little surprising given that the sound was poor on the first occasion that we were in this Martineau Hall. Perhaps the Hall people have done something - as well as the paint job since our visits about the same time last year.

The odd phrase got a bit garbled and some of the cello entries were a little too strong, as was one of the viola entries. And they ran the movements together, which they claimed was on the instruction of the composer himself, a claim which was seconded by Wikipedia. Which may have been so, but I still prefer a pause between the parts. However, carping aside, it was a very good Op.131, as good as I remember - with the blog suggesting at least four other outings since 2011, with the comment on at least one of them suggesting pauses.

The first violin used a computer rather than a score, although I did not catch him using the foot pedal which appeared to come with it. Perhaps that was only for overriding what the computer managed by itself. Or perhaps he was not bothering with the score at all.

The second violin was rather given to moving around on her seat - which made her male colleagues look rather staid. But no signs of sweating despite their athletic approach to the Beethoven - an approach which must have made considerable demands on arm and shoulder muscles.

Unusually for this venue, quite a lot of young people in the audience. More or less a full house.

Reference 1: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=sacconi.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/its-those-dantes-again.html.