THE Ovid Ensemble, a young and highly acclaimed chamber music ensemble, offers a widely varied repertoire of works in which the well-known are combined with rarely heard works and new commissions. As guest of the Kendal Midday Concert Club the ensemble recently presented a most invigorating programme that embraced the classical, the early 20th and 21st centuries Mozart and Beethoven, Kodaly and Jeremy Thurlow. It is of paramount importance that new music is given a regular platform and Thurlow's Sixteen Cities (an Ovid commission) is an expertly scored work in which riotous cacophony, complex textures and rhythms and imaginative effects for oboe, strings and piano create a most vivid piece of music so brilliantly played, too. A sensitive performance of Kodaly's beautifully scored, but utterly unfamiliar Intermezzo, brought forth a rich tapestry of luscious string textures and sonorities.

Encasing these two items were beloved and admired pieces by Beethoven (Trio in Bb, Op.11, for oboe, cello and piano) and Mozart (Oboe Quartet, K370). In their readings of these two exquisite works the Ovids revealed a depth of musicianship that was quite captivating. It could possible be said that Jeremy Young (piano) and Alun Derbyshire (oboe) held centre-stage here because their techniques and understanding of the nature of the music was such that both pieces received marvellously refined performances. But that would be hugely unfair on their partners Mia Cooper (violin), David Adams (viola) and Alice Neary (cello). They all supported magnificently balance was (usually) perfect, their sense of line and phrasing deeply satisfying and their techniques were of a standard that enabled them all to create the impression that Mozart and Beethoven are the easiest of composers to interpret. And we all know how untrue that is!

BVP

February 13, 2003 10:30