Dear Music-lover,

For our final concert of 2006, we welcomed back old friends, the Edinburgh Quartet. The concert started well, with Niall's announcement that there is to be an additional concert on 28th March; a recital by Anna Kavalerova, the winner of the Moray Piano Competition! Having heard her in the finals, I am looking forward to that concert already.

The quartet were, perhaps, a little unsure - not surprisingly, because there had been a change of programme and personnel. The concert was to have been the culmination of a workshop with schoolchildren, working on "The Cold Dancer", by Kenneth Dempster and the children would have participated in the evening. However, the workshop was cancelled and Bridge's "3 Idylls" was performed instead. In addition, we were told that the leader was being changed at the last minute, with Ruth Crouch substituting for Charles Mutter.

While this may have affected the performance a little, it must have been purely coincidental that an emergency vehicle hurtled down the High Street outside, siren blazing, during one of the works. Fortunately, this occurred as the quartet were about to take up their instruments for the next movement. They paused and we were treated to a "John Cage" moment of silence.

We were also treated, during the interval, to the traditional, and always welcome, serving of mulled wine (concocted by Howard Spenceley, cellarmaster of the Inverness Wine Appreciation Society) and mince pies. The wine must have been good - a couple of bottles were last seen in a car, heading back to Edinburgh!

Our opening concert of 2007, the Year of Highland Culture, on Tuesday 16th January features a performance of one of the most popular of chamber works - Schubert's "Trout" Quintet with Schumann's Piano Quintet and Haydn's string quartet Op. 50 No. 6. The performers - the award-winning Carducci Quartet with Nicola Eimer (piano) - have been hugely enjoyed here in the past and are supplemented by Daniel Storer (double bass). This promises to be a real highlight.

Wishing you a joyful, musical, wonderful 2007,

Paul

was the first violin and piano duo we had felt able to promote and featured Peter Evans, an Edinburgh pianist and Ulrike Fenner, a German violinist.

On a wet night, perhaps it was understandable that the audience was small-ish (selective?), but we were treated to an evening of excellent music making. One feature, for me, made the evening special – the pure professionalism of the performers. Peter and Uli took everything in their stride – a long drive from Edinburgh; my mystifying directions on how to get to the Town Hall; the delay in getting access for practice (because of the launch of Highland Community TV network) and the delightfully prepared “green room”, laid out by Alison with a picnic for them (they were quite ecstatic about it!)

They then produced a wonderful evening, with Peter supplementing the programme notes from the stage with insights into the works and the composers. For me, the intriguing Brahms Scherzo, the delicate Mozart sonata and even the luscious Prokoviev “5 melodies” were but a prelude to the Sonata by César Franck. This is something that Niall and I (me, particularly) have struggled with for years. The horrendously difficult second movement simply flowed, which allowed me to relax and enjoy the rest. I heard notes in the music that I hadn’t even realised were there!

That wonderful sonata alone merited their encores – “Après une rêve”, by Fauré, and Gershwin’s “Let’s call the whole thing off”. I’m glad they didn’t.

In a final gesture, Peter publicly acknowledged the ability of Helen Standen, who had been a very competent page-turner throughout. As a (perhaps, less-than-competent) page-turner of some years’ standing/sitting, was I jealous? You bet!

Our final concert of 2006 is on 7th December, with the Edinburgh Quartet. I look forward to seeing you there.

Paul