In Perigueux for the opening concert of the Sinfonia en Perigord season. Quatuor Ardeo, with Carole Petitdemange and Mi-sa Yang on violins, Yuko Hara on viola and Matthijs Broersma replacing Joëlle Martinez on cello, played an extremely entertaining programme.

Quatuor Ardeo

It began with Beethoven’s ‘String Quartet no. 1 in F major’, written between 1798 and 1800. The second movement, which was inspired by the tomb scene from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was particularly beautifully played. This was followed by a piece I had never heard before, Joaquin Turina’s single-movement ‘La Oración del torero’ (The Toreador’s Prayer), composed in 1924, which has an impressionistic, Iberian feel to it, reminiscent of Debussy and Ravel, which was most enjoyable.

The most impressive playing was reserved for Dvorak’s ‘String Quartet no. 12 in F major’, known as the ‘American’. Mi-sa Yang took over as first violin and played wonderfully, with great energy and rhythm. It was all followed by the most unusual of encores, without any instruments at all. A performance of Steve Reich’s ‘Clapping Music’ rounded off a very pleasant evening.

Matthijs Broersma

Ludwig van Beethoven: ‘String Quartet no. 1 in F major’, opus 18, no. 1; Joaquin Turina: ‘La Oración del torero’ (The Toreador’s Prayer), Op. 34; Antonin Dvořák: ‘String Quartet no. 12 in F major, ‘American’, opus 96; Steve Reich: ‘Clapping Music’.