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Date: | Thu, 21 Jan 1999 12:49:32 -0800 |
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Donald Satz ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
>Gade is frequently compared to Mendelssohn. I don't have any problem
>with this except that I find Gade's string chamber music decidedly more
>enjoyable than Mendelssohn's. Anyone agree?
Not realoly, but Gade's Octet is IMHO the only one even remotely comparable
to Mendelssohn's.
I must relate a minor triumph here. A few years back, a little while after
I discovered the Gade Octet (the L'Archibudelli/Smithsonian Chamber Palyers
version on 8 Strads c/w the Mendelssohn, a great disc) I suggested to one
of the members of the Lafayette String Quartet that they might like to do
it. Every years they have a quartet seminar in Victoria, lasting about 10
days, there is always a guest quartet and they do the final concert
together.
Well, imagine my surprise when, last April I got a fax (actually two faxes,
from different members of the LSQ) telling me they were playing it this
year!
It went superbly and was a terrific experience in the flesh. However, it
was slightly embarrasing as the President of UVIC, who was giving a brief
speech at the beginning, went out of his way to point out that I had
suggested the work to them. At the interval I had people coming up and
saying what a wonderful work it is - which it is - but you'd have though
I'd written it.....
Still, the LSQ were sufficiently impressed with the piece that they
persuaded the univeristy to buy the parts....
Now, to spring the Svendsen Octet on them.......
Deryk Barker
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