( - Gerald Barry
Piano Quartet No 1 - Gerald Barry
Triorchic Blues - Gerald Barry
Piano Quartet No 2 - Gerald Barry
When the d'Arcy Quartet walked onto the platform for the last item in their lunchtime concert, the pianist Louise Thomas was wearing leather gloves - the kind that film gangsters pull on before beating up somebody. With startling panache, she pummelled the piano with forearms and fists - the opening of Gerald Barry's Piano Quartet No 2.
In the Piano Quartets Nos 1 and 2 there was the occasional bout of ragged ensemble. Michael d'Arcy (violin), Rachael Walker (viola), Arun Rao (cello) and Louise Thomas concentrated on a generalised, forward-driving energy, rather than on that taut precision which can let rhythmic repetition create its own momentum.
Yet, like Michael d'Arcy's spirited account of the violin version of Triorchic Blues, the performances of the quartets and of the piano quartet version of
were effective. They could be subtle as well as forceful; and touches of light and shade prevented forcefulness from descending into bluster.