I will mention these briefly, as I passed up the opportunity to go because of a residual tickly cough, and let others in the family hear them instead.
First up were the Jerusalem Quartet, playing Haydn Op. 77/1, Bartók’s fourth quartet and the Debussy quartet. The comment that I got back was that these three diverse pieces ended up sounding rather too similar to one another! We expected our daughter to like the Bartók most, but she preferred the Debussy.
Carole Cerasi played the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier on a clavichord in the Guildhall, in two instalments. The Guildhall lends itself well to this type of concert as even quiet sounds carry from the platform right through the audience. This was well worth the investment of going to two concerts in one day.
I heard Freddy Kempf last time he came to the Festival. I was rather worried after his account of the Appassionata sonata then that he would beat the Pathétique black and blue, but I’m told that he was more sensitive. The Liszt pieces in his recital, played in a different order from the programme, came off best; the Chopin was less successful.
The Guardian reviewed Kempf and Cerasi here. A review of the Jerusalem Quartet can be found on The Classical Source.
Finally, to anyone who has been visited Bath for the Festival, I should add that even Bath’s traffic isn’t normally as gridlocked as it has been in recent days. A vital road has been blocked by the discovery of a damaged water main, and this has added to disruption caused by building work on the new bus station being at a critical stage.