I hadn’t been to a concert at the Wiltshire Music Centre in over 10 years. Only a small part of this was accounted for by the pandemic hiatus; mostly it was because I fell off the mailing list for their brochure, which was a useful way of reminding me what was happening.
We returned for a performance by the former quartet in residence, the Doric String Quartet. They are almost like George Washington’s axe in that they have had a change of 3 of 4 players since I first heard them, and of two players recently.
The publicity for this concert enticed prospective listeners with the prospect that the quartet would be ‘exploring some of the last pieces [Beethoven] ever penned’, Op 135 and Op 132. For me, there was also the chance to compare their interpretation of Op 132 with the one I remember hearing back in 2008. It was therefore disappointing to find that the two quartets were replaced by Op 18 no. 3 and Op 59 no. 3. Not that there is anything wrong with those, but two-thirds of the programme, which had been extensively trailed in publicity, was changed at a late stage, apparently because the new lineup wasn’t ready to perform it. Surely they could have realised that a bit earlier?
I have had something like this happen a few times during the lifetime of this blog. It’s more understandable when it’s due to illness and a replacement performer having to be found. It also happens in my own performances. I think of the time I signed up, and paid, to sing The Kingdom, only to find the entire programme changed to one of Russian music. (I have got to sing The Kingdom since then.) The consequence was that I was reluctant to join further performances by that choir, in case the repertoire was changed after I’d committed to them (as some of it was!)
As for the Doric Quartet’s performances, which included the unchanged Op 20 no. 5 quartet of Haydn, we found them accomplished but tending to style over substance, with physical gestures used to elicit audience appreciation. So maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed the late quartets all that much anyway.