Festival kicks off

REVIEW - OPENING NIGHT - HAMPSTEAD AND HIGHGATE FESTIVAL
Hampstead PArish Chruch by Jane Wild

Heralding the start of the eighth Hampstead and Highgate festival, last Thursday’s concert was a momentous beginning.
Accomplished professionals came together in the various combinations of quintet, quartet, trio and duo, providing variety in not only this, but with a programme of Mozart, Schubert, Shostakovich and contemporary composer James Francis Brown.
Katharine Gowers, an in-demand violinist who has performed with the Bournemouth Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, led Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G Minor.
This well-balanced foursome weaved a neat line from the sternness of the opening through to the bounding last movement with an underlying feeling of barely-contained energy.
The world premier of James Francis Brown’s Prospero’s Isle was dramatically dark and brooding, played by pianist Gretel Dowdeswell and cellist Gemma Rosefield.
Piano Trio No 1 by Shostakovich was captured with a fine lyrical melancholy but it was the Schubert that really was excellent.
A sense of energy bursting at the seams was used to spectacular effect during the famous Trout, the Piano Quintet in A.
A strong pulse with light and playful embellishments carried the music along in a surge of excitement, with a sparkling piano part deserving special mention.