REVIEWS
KALEIDOSCOPE CHAMBER COLLECTIVE piano quintet
Wednesday 14 May 2025 7:30pm
George Walker – Lyric for Strings
Korngold – Suite for two violins, cello and piano left hand, op 23
Amy Beach – Piano quintet in F sharp minor, op 67
Kaleidoscope, hailed by the Times for its ‘exhilarating performances’, was dreamed up in 2017 by Tom Poster (piano) and Elena Urioste (violin), who met through the BBC New Generation Artists scheme. Its creative programming is marked by an ardent commitment to celebrating diversity of all forms and a desire to unearth lesser-known gems of the repertoire. It brings together many of today’s most inspirational musicians. At Ilkley Tom and Elena are joined by Savitri Grier (violin), Rosalind Ventris (viola) and Laura van der Heijden (cello).
Their programme combines music from America by George Walker, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, and Amy Beach, the first successful female American composer. Walker’s Lyric for strings emerged from his first string quartet and Beach’s piano quintet pays a distinctive homage to that of her inspiration, Brahms. Between these two we are introduced to Erich Korngold’s suite for piano quintet dedicated to the left-handed pianist, Paul Wittgenstein.
REVIEW BY Chris Skidmore
A rousing climax to the season
The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective brought the Ilkley Concert Club’s 78th season to a rousing climax last Wednesday with a programme of twentieth-century music with an American theme. The strings of the group – Elena Urioste and Savitri Grier (violins), Rosalind Ventris (viola) and Laura van der Heijden (cello) – began the concert with the Lyric for strings by the African American composer, George Walker. This elegiac and reflective piece was originally, like Barber’s Adagio for strings, a string quartet slow movement and was played here with great tenderness and artistry by the Kaleidoscope players.
The arrival of Tom Poster at the piano for Korngold’s Suite for two violins, cello and piano (left hand) brought a new energy to the hall linked to fears that the piano might dominate proceedings. The work begins with a vigorous Präludium in which Korngold attempts the monumentality of a Bach organ toccata on the piano. Balance was soon restored with the following fugue, introduced by the solo cello, and was henceforward never a problem. The opening is followed by a ghostly waltz evoking old Vienna and a lively scherzo in which grotesque figures scurry around. A tranquil trio intervenes and the return of the scherzo is followed by a soaring lied with not a little resemblance to Korngold’s famous Mariettelied.
The suite is rounded off with a relaxed set of variations culminating in a vigorous presto. This central performance, the heart of the programme, was played with great conviction and virtuosity by the group and received generous applause.
The Amy Beach quintet which comprised the second half received just as committed a performance. Beach has a style all her own, although the debt to Brahms is obvious and I am not convinced that it is as original a work as the Korngold. Nevertheless the warmth and blend of the string playing was outstanding, particularly in the Adagio expressivo which is the emotional centre of this work. The group’s performance was given an enthusiastic reception by the Concert Club audience, who were rewarded with a colourful arrangement of Harold Arlen’s ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ as an encore!
