Page 191 - ASMF Marriner 100 Coverage Book

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is currently marking the centenary of

the birth of its founder and conductor, Neville Marriner. But those queueing for returns
at Wigmore Hall for the concert by the Academy’s Chamber Ensemble were hoping not
just to join in the anniversary celebrations, but also to welcome Murray Perahia back to
the concert platform after a six-year absence. For 30 years now Perahia’s career has
been blighted by a hand injury, which has forced long periods away from the concert
hall, and many of his admirers must have feared that his most recent absence could well
become a permanent one.

But Perahia’s long history with the ASMF – he made many recordings with Marriner
and the group, and he has been its principal guest conductor since 2005 – evidently
persuaded him to make at least a brief return as part of this month’s celebration, taking
the stage in a performance of Schumann’s Piano Quintet, the centrepiece of the
ensemble’s concert. It’s not a work with a particularly prominent piano part – the
pianist is very much one of a team – but there were enough moments in the
performance – the warm pearly piano sound and textural clarity, the perfect weight of
the tiniest detail – to provide reminders of why Perahia is regarded as one of the finest
players of his generation, and to encourage the hope that he might soon be back playing
more regularly.

The ASMF’s current director Joshua Bell took over as first violin for the performance
of Mendelssohn’s Octet that followed the Schumann, encouraging a more flamboyant
approach than before. His dynamism certainly launched the performance with great
verve, but sometimes – in the light-as-air scherzo and the whirlwind finale especially –
a slightly more measured approach and greater care over articulation might have made
it feel less cluttered. Another string octet had opened the concert – the Partita by Sally
Beamish (who had once been a viola player in the ASMF and was its first composer-in-
residence); a taut, effective piece which takes ideas from Mendelssohn’s work as the
starting points for each of its three movements.