Mozart K458
Borodin Quart No. 2 in D (which seemed like it was mostly in A?)
It’s been a few months since we played. We chose the Mozart as a “warm-up”, and finished the last movement after, oh, a little more than an hour, I think. We even did the math and played the lovely Adagio, full of 32nd notes , triplets, dotted rhythms, and bizarre rest patterns. The fugal development in the last movement was especially fun.
I had my doubts about Borodin, but thought it came off remarkably well. It’s always nerve-wracking when the first bar of the first movement is annotated “Solo”. That also took awhile, as there was lots of regrouping to work out unexpected rhythms and interdigitations. Didn’t do the whole last movement, as after 2 1/2 hours fingers were raw and shoulders were aching.
This is a really congenial group. Nothing to prepare, as we just read something new each time. Reasonably consistent ability, excellent counting all around, and no one gets exercised if someone needs an extra pass (or two) to get their part to work out. And we don’t really have to stop that often, as all of us are usually able to come back in based on what we hear around us when we get completely derailed.
Looking forward to next month.
