VOGLER STRING QUARTET

SATURDAY 16th OCTOBER 2010

Music Nairn enjoyed what was probably its best string quartet concert yet last Friday. The Vogler Quartet has been together for 25 years, and its performance certainly showed this: their sensitivity, coordination and artistic integrity were in the a delight. These qualities were amply demonstrated in their exquisitely considered performance of quartets by Beethoven and Schumann, but were vital to their presentation of the Lyric Suite by Alban Berg - one of the "Second Viennese School" of twelve tone composing. This cornerstone of "modern" music at last took Music Nairn into the 20th century, and the enthusiastic applause that followed showed that most, if not all, of the audience are now ready to step at least into the 20th century. The whole of the program had a lyrical theme from the early romanticism of the Beethoven to the full-blown romance of the Schumann and, above all, the passion of the Berg - in which the quartet used many of the newer techniques of bowing to produce a fascinating variety of timbres. The Vogler have played in Nairn before, and we hope they will return: it will be a concert not to be missed.