Reviews

QPO chamber concert plays emotion-filled music at MIA

MANEESH BAKSHI
DOHA
AS part of the 'Chamber Music at the Museum of Islamic Art' series, nine members of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) on Thursday held a concert at the iconic museum where they played the compositions of Beethoven and neo classical Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu.
The programme included Martinu's Nonet for wind quintet in three movements and Beethoven's Septet in E Flat Major.
Martinu composed Nonet for wind quintet in the last year of his life. He spent his last days in Switzerland hoping to return to his homeland but couldn't because of the unfavourable political conditions in Czech Republic. The work was commissioned to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the famous Czech chamber ensemble by the name Czech Nonet.
"It is a wonderful experience to play inside this beautiful building. In addition, the works of Martinu are very close to my heart," said base player Radovan Hetsch, who himself is of Czech origin.
"Though there were challenges in finding the right sound because of the shape and size of the atrium but still it was nice to play for such a large crowd of people who came to hear the concert," the base player said.
Throwing light on the historic context of this work, Hetsch said,"The folk motifs in the first movement clearly depict the strong influence of folklores on the composer as he spent most of his childhood in the country side of Czech Republic."
The colourful first movement gives way to the passionate second movement bearing a sad overall mood perhaps indicative of the ill health he was grappling with during the time he composed the piece.
"I personally enjoyed playing in this setting though there is reverberation but nonetheless it's a good idea to bring music and art together," said clarinetist Rony Moser while putting his clarinet back in the case after the concert."It's challenging to play in a loose setting like this but we have to have a lot of eye contact among us to keep the unity of the music," he added.
The second piece in the programme composed by Beethoven was equally interesting and considered to be one of the classics of the chamber music repertoire. The first movement of the piece was almost like a concerto for violin with many difficult passages almost testing the ability of a violinist.
The second movement has a beautiful clarinet solo but the overall mood is sombre and lyrical. Then the third movement is in a dance form of minuet and later a scherzo. The final movement starts with a funeral march but ends on a lively and happy overall feeling.
"It's like real life music where we have moments of happiness punctuated with instances of sadness here and there," Hetsch said, describing the overall mood.
Museum of Islamic Art and Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra joined hands to start the series of free concert at the museum atrium dubbed 'Chamber Music at the Museum of Islamic Art'.