New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,




Description: The ensemble plays Haydn's Quartet No 50 In B Flat Major, Op 64m and works by Beethoven, Schubert and Debussy.
Phone: 0207730 7270
Trains: Tube: Sloane Square
Players to reckon with: Barbirolli Quartet
In terms of both quantity and quality, Schubert’s string quartets constitute a major body of work. A shame, then, that for the Chelsea Schubert Festival’s only concert dedicated to quartets, the Barbirolli Quartet could find room for just one.
On the other hand, you could argue that the nine minutes of his Quartet Movement are so condensed, so focused, that they are complete unto themselves. So it felt in the Barbirollis’ performance.
While Holy Trinity’s acoustic is bright and forward, the background hum of ventilation and traffic did few favours to quieter passages. Despite that, the Barbirollis’ approach favoured bold attack over pristine unity, and the music benefited.
If the players captured the fleeting moods of the Schubert, they also got the febrile, hyperventilating energy of Beethoven’s Fourth String Quartet. Not that everything was tension and stress: there was a lovely, open-hearted lyricism in the third movement, while the finale kicked up its heels with skittish energy.
Without Haydn’s example, neither Beethoven nor Schubert would have had such a firm foundation on which to build their quartets. It made sense, then, to open with the older composer’s String Quartet No 65, a work of infectious high spirits. There was a clear sense of shared pleasure in Haydn’s bundle of little surprises: a change of tempo here, a momentary pause there.
These musicians really search for the right timbre; at one slow passage in the final movement, their combined sonority had the enveloping warmth of an organ.
Debussy’s only string quartet made a fitting climax, its sense of structure looking backwards, its sound-world looking to the future. The Barbirolli Quartet invested it with an almost vocal quality, so that the piece unfolded like an opera without singing. Still young, these four women are already players to reckon with.
Information: 020 7730 7270.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.