THOMAS Ades’s Piano Quintet seems to exists in several time zones at once. It’s always shifting in and out of focus, constantly tricking our perceptions of normal time. And it’s the centrepiece of the opening concert in Perth Concert Hall this weekend – a residency featuring pianist Alasdair Beatson and the Doric Quartet. On Friday night they play piano quintets by Fauré and Elgar alongside the Ades. On Saturday the Dorics give Beatson a rest in a programme of string quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. On Sunday Beatson plays Schumann’s Kinderszenen – poetic miniature vignettes of childhood – and the weekend closes with Brahms’s dark and hefty Piano Quintet in F minor.
Beatson says: “The Doric String Quartet are great friends of mine – our musical collaboration has been pretty constant since we first met as students, and our growth as musical artists since has in many ways been parallel. Our weekend residency at Perth Concert Hall will showcase many of the works we most love playing together, and some of the richest in the piano quintet repertoire. Brahms and Elgar are glorious stalwarts, deeply expressive and noble. Alongside these, we've programmed the less familiar – the subtle, exquisite lyricism of Fauré, and a short glimpse of the bold, architectural, and colourful music of Thomas Adès. No question for me which concert will be the most relaxing – on the Saturday night I can put my feet up and enjoy the Dorics playing an evening without piano in St John's Kirk! It is a privilege to bring our partnership to my home town, and to offer such a breadth of music over the weekend – we hope and encourage music lovers to join us over any and all three concerts which promise the full drama, beauty and emotion of the piano quintet.”
Alasdair Beatson and the Doric String Quartet are in residence at Perth Concert Hall, Friday-Sunday
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