BREAKING THE SPELL

We held our breath, more than 200 of us in that tran­scen­dent mo­ment at the Au­di­tori Josep Car­reras in Vila Seca. The final chord floated and then sweetly dis­si­pated into the air and into our souls - en­cap­su­lat­ing the in­tense sen­si­tiv­ity, in­ti­macy, har­mony and magic of cham­ber music at its finest. Bravo the Ger­hard String Quar­tet. And take a bow, au­di­ence, for leav­ing that final mo­ment to wash over us un­bro­ken.

Full dis­clo­sure... We have a past in clas­si­cal con­cert man­age­ment and pro­mo­tion. Mag­gie was per­sonal as­sis­tant to William Lyne at the Wig­more Hall in Lon­don. I share this be­cause what fol­lows may ruf­fle feath­ers.

First, though, our ap­pre­ci­a­tion of both the Au­di­tori Josep Car­reras at Vila Seca and the Au­di­tori Pau Casals up the coast at San Sal­vador. How we wish more peo­ple ap­pre­ci­ated them. To sense the hope and life spring­ing from the music school chil­dren within the Au­di­tori Josep Car­reras is a joy in it­self. To visit the for­mer home and now site ho­n­our­ing the life and works of Pau Casals across the road from the Au­di­tori at San Sal­vador is to feel the pres­ence of this truly great Cata­lan.

And as for the Ger­hard String Quar­tet, we have heard them grow into one of Eu­rope’s finest cham­ber en­sem­bles.

Music is core to well being, all gen­res. If you have never delved the emo­tional depths and beauty of live cham­ber works, then try. Or­ches­tral mas­ter­pieces too. They are not elit­ist. It is for every­one if you but sow that first seed. Trust me. Which is why place and au­di­ence are so im­por­tant: it just needs you to be in the mo­ment, im­mersed in as­ton­ish­ing har­monies, the fruits of im­mense cre­ativ­ity.

We jour­ney to Barcelona quite reg­u­larly for a con­cert fix, prefer­ably at the Au­di­tori where au­di­ences tend to be very much in the mo­ment, cher­ish artistry, not want­ing the final note to end. But the last visit was a dis­ap­point­ment for an­other rea­son. Glo­ri­ous to be in the com­pany of Yo-Yo Ma for a cello and piano recital trans­ferred from the stun­ning (and some­times in­fu­ri­at­ing) Palau de la Mu­sica. But much that is del­i­cate and beau­ti­ful that Ma brings was lost in such a vast space be­cause it was drowned to a great de­gree by a piano on full stick, namely lid gap­ing wide. The bal­ance was wrong, the cel­e­brated acoustics of that or­ches­tral space for 2340 peo­ple no help. Why not two or more con­certs in one of the smaller halls? Time, money, de­mand, of course. Were you there? Your thoughts?

So to the Palau, or rather not if there is a choice: can some­one please house man­age up­front, namely come on stage be­fore­hand to in­tro­duce, look peo­ple in the eye, smile and re­it­er­ate the need to switch off from the out­side world? Can tick­ets also boldly state no de­vices dur­ing the per­for­mance? The Palau ex­pe­ri­ence is in­creas­ingly awash with phones held high by peo­ple obliv­i­ous of oth­ers, to the break­ing of spells .