Period performance is a sundry old can of worms.
Sometimes the use of historic (or replica) instruments is a straight means to an end - the end being special colour palettes that modern instruments gloss over. Other times it feels as though the instruments are the end in themselves.
The Chiaroscuro Quartet's concert on Monday was a superb example of the former; this programme headed by Australian clarinettist Nicola Boud veered more towards the latter.
Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, if you happened to be especially curious about the kind of clarinet sound that Mozart or Brahms had in their heads. Boud used three different clarinets, starting on a sweet-sounding boxwood with five keys (modern descendants have 17 or more) and graduating to a raspy late-19th century replica.
It felt like an illustrated lecture without the lecture - a trot through the evolution of the clarinet and the correlated way that composers wrote for it. Pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout also switched about, from a delicate 1800-style fortepiano to a mellow 1850s Erard.
Early wind instruments are devilish beasts to play in tune, let alone prettily, and Boud's control was heroic. If the opening of Mozart's Kegelstatt sounded a tad mannered, the trio (with violist Sophie Gent) had found their swing by the gutsy finale. Soprano Sabine Devieilhe sang long, occasionally shrill lines in Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock; Jane Gower contributed a hearty buzz of a 19th century bassoon sound to Glinka's Trio pathétique. Boud ended with a beautifully lyrical account of Brahms's Eb Sonata, but Bezuidenhout's ornaments and rolled chords were cloying - he made the first movement's coda sound like a schmaltzy parlour song.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article