F Berwald Grand Septet in B flat major. C Nielsen Serenata in Vano. L van Beethoven Septet in E Flat, Op. 2
Wigmore Soloists is intended to be a new super-group of chamber music players, led by the clarinettist, Michael Collins. It clearly has a flexible group of players – two of the musicians in this concert are not mentioned on their website and are members of the Sheffield-based Ensemble 360 – the first violinist and the oboist among the group of players. I miscalculated the time needed to get to the venue so arrived about 10 minutes late. It meant that I missed the Nielsen piece, which was a pity. Franz Berwald was a Swedish composer (1796 – 1868), one of whose symphonies I have come across – I think I had an old LP of it. The Septet was new to me (as was the Beethoven piece). Berwald’s Septet in B flat for clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and double bass is an early-ish piece (1828) and is I think in three movements. It’s in a sub – Mendelssohn/Weber idiom – one might say Mendelssohn without some of the sparkle….It was not very memorable, if I’m honest, but pleasant enough – the slow movement was the most distinguished and despite its poco adagio marking had several faster sections.
With the Beethoven piece, I felt immediately a greater sense of presence, of energy, of innovation, although its 6-movement structure got me a little lost at times. It was very popular in the first few decades of the 19th century – Beethoven turned against the piece for that reason!! He was in his late twenties when he wrote it so it comes from a period when his individual voice was becoming apparent. It resembles, I guess, a Mozart-style serenade, and has plenty of phrases that might be Haydn’s or Mozart’s, but overall there is an energy, and intensity, that is very much Beethoven’s. I particularly enjoyed the first movement. The group repeated one of the later movements as an encore
John's musical journey 