Elgar's Exquisite E-Minor

February 1, 2012 at 12:46 PM

For weeks, I'd been having mixed feelings about the new project of my ACMP quartet. While I liked and admired the music written by the great English master, it seemed so hard - and, to me at least - almost illogical - to practice alone at home.

Yet, after having driven under a clear, starry sky through a landscape covered with just a few inches of snow and entering the cozy house of my friends, how surprised was I at how good the going turned out to be. The first few bars were really hard, until we all got into the feeling for the tempo and the mood.

Soon, we were starting to enjoy our playing and - after some intensive rehearsing - nailed down a not too bad rendition of the first movement.

The second movement in 3/8 was almost a cinch after that. What a noble theme! Just a little bit of work and we were almost ready for the recording studio ;-) .

Afterwards, we got rewarded with sumptious baked apples and planned the next session - this time around, I won't have any mixed feelings but am looking forward to the third movement and then the complete piece.

After such an evening, life is good!

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