“accomplished, elegant musical journey from Bach to Gershwin”
A trumpet and string quartet is an unusual formation for a concert, but is the chosen vehicle for this concert inspired by the European salon concerts of the 18th and 19th centuries. As part of the Kings Place ‘Memory Unwrapped’ series, this performance is a collaboration between star trumpet soloist Matilda Lloyd and the Goldmund Quartet.
The programme notes tell us that we are to imagine ourselves in a musical salon, ‘a space where music meets conversation’ which is intended to give the concert ‘an intimate and relaxed feel’. However, beneath the hall’s cavernous ceiling and surrounded by airy wooden cladding, the concert possesses all the formal trappings of a staid classical concert, and much suspension of disbelief is required to conjure the intended atmosphere.
The concert opens within J.S. Bach’s trumpet concerto, which Lloyd performs on piccolo trumpet with rapid arpeggios and trills showcasing her virtuosic facility on the instrument, accompanied with light grandeur by the quartet. Al the players stand, enhancing the piece’s buoyant energy as each movement, even the Larghetto, dances along. Lloyd stands next to the quartet, playing towards them as though in conversation.
Taking handheld microphones, Lloyd and cellist Raphael Paratore, welcome us to a soirée in 18th-century Vienna, at the home of Marianna Martines, a building which also housed the young Joseph Haydn. The high point of the concert’s first half was Haydn’s trumpet concert, arguably the most famous work for the instrument. Lloyd’s rendition is confident though never brash, demonstrating exceptional poise and control. Dialled-in precision characterises each movement, resulting in an elegance which is impressive but lacks excitement, with the quartet not quite fulfilling the richness of the full orchestra that would typically accompany the work.
Closing the first half is a piece by Marianna Martines herself, one of two instances where the programme diverts from conventional, well-known works to showcase underperformed and lesser-known female composers. This short piece is an excerpt from La Tempesta, a florid work which is a treat to discover though I didn’t quite feel the turbulence of the titular storm.
In both acts, the Goldmund Quartet played a piece without trumpet, which were two of the most famous works for the formation: Haydn’s whimsical ‘Joke’ quartet and the second movement from Schubert’s heart-wrenching ‘Death and the Maiden’. In both, the quartet delivered a refined performance, though I found myself hoping they would at some point really let rip. Technical details such as intonation and phrasing were hard to fault, but choosing pieces which hold such canonical status within the repertoire invites scrutiny: for me Haydn’s joke felt more of a coy eyebrow raise than cause for laughter and the Schubert a touch too polite to really move me.
After the interval we were brought into the 19th century, into the Paris home of Pauline Viardot. Two pieces by Viardot sandwich a third by Gabriel Fauré, presented as though three movements of one piece. On B flat trumpet now, Lloyd’s sound is much warmer and more expressive. This trio is a highlight: three charming pieces full of lilting melodies and Romantic swells. The trumpet never overpowers the strings and here they sit as a quintet, playing as one ensemble.
The concert closed in the 20th century – we are told we are in the Roosevelt Club in New York – with George Gershwin’s Three Preludes (and the excellent choice of his ‘Someone to Watch Over Me as an encore). Dance rhythms from jazz, Brazilian and Spanish music inject verve into the concert, though still played with characteristic precision, and a whistling duet makes for an unexpectedly delightful interlude. The finale at last reaches the more foot-stomping energy I have been craving throughout.
Though we are told we are on a journey through the salon, the real narrative of the concert coheres around the trumpet and its stylistic evolution. Lloyd showcases the instrument’s full gamut of tone, colour and expression, from Bach’s high virtuoso and Haydn’s stately elegance to the warmth and liquidity of Romanticism and the playful muted sounds of jazz, executed throughout with confidence and technical prowess.
‘Salon re-imagined’ was performed on the 7th of February at Kings Place in London, as part of their concert series ‘Memory Unwrapped’.