Last time I went to a concert, I promised myself I would write about it here, but took the task too seriously, procrastinated, and eventually failed to write a word.

Well, earlier this evening I went to another concert, and this time I am damn well going to put something about it here, however feeble or unpersuasive.

The venue was the Conway Hall in Red Lion Square. The musicians were the Chilingirian String Quartet (keep scrolling and clicking until you get something), plus another cellist, Raphael Wallfisch, and the music was: the Beethoven Street Quartet in F opus 18 no 1, the Bach Suite for Solo Cello No. 5 in C minor, and the Schubert String Quintet in C major D956. The Chilingirians did the Beethoven. Wallfisch then did the Bach. Then, after an interval, all five of them together did the Schubert.

The weak link in the proceedings was the leader of the quartet, Levon Chilingirian. I feel like a swine for saying something like this, but it is true. After all, this was music making of the highest order, and nitpicking seems churlish. Nevertheless, I spent the entire time he was playing wishing that I could find it in me to enjoy his playing more than I did. Maybe the accoustics didn't help him, in particular when he played high notes, and maybe he toned down his playing of high notes a bit, and maybe this affected his control. Whatever the reason, whenever he was up there and out on his own, and should have been rhapsodising like an angel in flight, I found myself thinking that it was all rather earthbound and scratchy and lacking in rhythmic certainty. Only when he played low down and was harmonising with the others did the quartet playing, or quintet playing, suddenly have that real, hear-a-pin-drop, magic about it. I've not had time to put on a recording of any of the music I heard this evening, but I intend to, and when I do, I expect to hear just what it was I was missing this evening.

Wallfisch, on the other hand, was a revelation, especially in the solo Bach, which of course involved no playing whatever by Levon Chilingirian. The utterly simple Sarabande, devoid of double stopping or of any complicated skittering about, was especially affecting, as was the way he immediately after it launched into the Gavotte that followed, with infectiously foot-stamping elan. In his hands this music really danced. I now am listening to the highly regarded Fournier DGG recording of this music, just to get the names of the movements right (given that the programme was mute on the subject), and frankly, I remember Wallfisch's playing as far more fun than Fournier's now sounds. Although maybe being able to look at the charming expressions that played on Wallfisch's face made it all sound better than it really did.

In the Schubert, Wallfisch merged with absolute precision into the ensemble around him, and again, I found his facial expressions fascinating, communing this time with his fellow musicians. He looked like Napoleon, but nice.

The other cellist, Chilingirian regular Philip de Groote, a very fat man indeed who moved nothing except his left hand fingers and his right arm when playing (too much effort, presumably), was exactly everything that his leader was not quite. Despite not appearing to notice that they were even there, he harmonised perfectly with Wallfisch and the rest of them, and was in general a beautifully sure foundation to the two ensemble pieces. When the spotlight beckoned he was more than equal to it. Much the same applies to the other two Chilingirians.

It was a fine, fine evening. But had there been a first violinist in the same class as the guest cellist, it would have been a great one.

The Schubert Quintet is one of the great masterpieces of Western chamber music, and despite my complaints about Levon Chilingirian, this performance certainly made that fact very clear. Far better a concert where you know it's great but where you are left feeling that it might have been even greater, than one where you are left wondering what all the fuss is about.

This is a picture I took at the end.

Not one of my best, but good of the chairs and music stands.

The event was organised to commemorate the life of a lady called Miriam Elton, who died this year. Miriam Elton spent her last days at the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted, Herts. They're now raising money to build a new version of this place, and the money raised by this concert will be going towards that.