RTE Vanburgh String Quartet, Hugh Tinney (piano)

Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96, "The American" - Dvorak

Quartet No. 3 - Bartok

Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 - Dvorak

Bartok's Quartet No. 3 was written 70 years ago, and though time has ameliorated some of its astringencies it retains its power to amaze and disturb. In the exciting performance by the Vanburgh Quartet in the NCH on Sunday it lost none of its dynamism and offered a welcome contrast to the comfortable tunefulness of the two works by Dvorak that flanked it.

Dvorak's chamber music has the endless facility of a mountain stream, "fertile in impulse, in control keen", and can seem long-winded unless it sparkles as well as sings. In the Piano Quintet No. 2 the addition of Hugh Tinney not only brought additional sparkle but enriched the sound so that it surrounded the audience instead of allowing it to feel at a distance. The Vanburgh Quartet always play supremely well when they have a partner and this was no exception.

In the "American" Quartet of Dvorak the playing in the first two movements was somewhat withdrawn so that the third movement Scherzo became the emotional centre of the piece. This had the advantage of removing the chocolate-box atmosphere from the work, but in the spaces of the auditorium the sound became somewhat attenuated. Sentimentality was happily avoided, but a little fervour was lost.