Strings Not quite busking...

[Tenor Viol]

This weekend my orchestra was asked if we could provide an ensemble to play a few sessions in a charity coffee shop in central Birmingham. So the cello department won that one...

So, yesterday 4 of us played cello quartets for a session, then one left (she's junior doctor and had to start a shift in A&E) so then we played trios.

Below is a picture of us playing as a trio and a video of piano version of one of the Bach pieces we played. Practice? Err, that would be one run-through 30 minutes before hand - might as well have been sight-reading. In the Bach, we played the fugue as it's in 3 voices, not the prelude (which is in 2 voices). I was on the bottom line of the fugue. The fugue is about 1m40s in.

We finished with an arrangement of The Final Countdown... so I was rocking the bass guitar line...

View: https://youtu.be/HB8-w5CvMls

 

[Tenor Viol]

The quartet played Piazolla's Libertango - this is a version from Youtube, we didn't do the percussion intro... I was on the bottom line again, which has its moments... Not easy stuff (for me anyway). @Jeanette might enjoy counting this one All I'll say is it's in 4/4...

View: https://youtu.be/dRb3Mx0yYpE

 

[Colin the Bear]

I've never come across a cello quartet before. What a glorious sound. I do like a good Tango.

 

[h4yn0nnym0u5e]

OT (in that it's not celli...) - a link to Libertango arranged for saxophone quartet... Thanks for that TV, I like the way even the bushes outside are joining in!

 

[Tenor Viol]

Not sure I shared this back in March.... The recording is poor - I forgot to check the levels and it's clipped quite a bit. It's also too close so the sound isn't really blended. The clarinets have a very obvious 'moment' - improvisation is not normally recommended in a Dvorak symphony...