Concerts in Castres

Castres boasts a very fine chamber music concert series, Les Dimanches Musicaux du Forum. Recent concerts have been given by the Quatuor Ardéo and the Quatuor Ebène, and last week I went along to hear cellist Henri Demarquette and pianist Brigitte Engerer give a recital at the Théâtre Municipal de Castres.

After a collection of short pieces and arrangements of music by Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, they played Chopin's Introduction and Polonaise Brillante Op.3. I was dreading hearing the usual souped- up fare (hybrid versions rewritten by various cellists who felt that the cello part was too unglamorous) but no, they gave a terrific account of the piece in its original form. Chopin's intention was to contrast the cello's beautiful melodic line with a more virtuosic piano part, not to compete with it. In fact, the main reason for this division of labour was that it was composed for the cello-playing Prince Antoni Radziwill, and his daughter Wanda, who was a very fine pianist. Chopin himself was somewhat dismissive about the work: 'Nothing but tinsel in it, for the salon, for the ladies - you see, I wanted Princess Wanda to learn it...I was virtually her teacher at the time'. While it's not one of my personal favourites, the Polonaise Brillante is more than tinsel, especially performed in its original version. Henle have brought out an urtext edition (HN788), which also includes the Duo Concertant, co-written with Chopin by the cellist Auguste Franchomme. Beware, you'll need crampons and an oxygen mask for the stratospheric cello part, and the piano writing's no tea party either. Nice piece, although I can think of better music to lacerate my left thumb on in all those octaves and off-piste runs....