An evening of chamber music performed by German band

Karachi rarely gives an opportunity to listen live to a performance of Western classical music. Thanks to the Goethe Institut and German consulate, lovers of Western classical music were able to enjoy on Saturday evening the performance of German instrumentalists under the band Ensemble 4.1, who played chamber music compositions by Beethoven and 20th-century German composer Walter Gieseking.

For the general readers, chamber music is a composition written for a few instruments instead of a large-scale orchestra. Due to the limited number of instruments involved, the chamber music can be played in a relatively small place for a small audience as it does not require a huge space for orchestra.

Since Ensemble 4.1 comprises five instrumentalists, they played quintets — chamber music composed for five instruments.

The band calls itself the only ‘piano windtet’ worldwide. The term ‘piano windtet’ signifies the instruments played by the five musicians in the band, which are piano and four wind instruments — oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn. Of these four wind instruments, horn (also called French horn) is part of the sub-family of brass instruments and the other three belong to the woodwind instruments sub-family.

According to the Ensemble 4.1 website, the band includes Thomas Hoppe, who is the pianist, Jörg Schneider who plays the oboe, Alexander Glucksmann, who plays the clarinet, Sebastian Posch, who is the horn player, and Christoph Knitt who plays the bassoon. However, Knitt was not there at the group’s performance in Karachi and the bassoon was played by Paul Gregor-Straka.

The performance was hosted by the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP). In his welcome speech, ACP President Ahmed Shah heaped praised on the Goethe Institut for arranging a variety of cultural events in the city.

German Consul General Rüdiger Lotz also spoke. He said the Ensemble 4.1 had come to Karachi after 10 years.

Later, one of the band members explained that it was in fact Karachi where the band gave its first performance in 2013. He said that as they formed their group, they received an invitation from the Goethe Institut Karachi to perform in the city. They accepted the invitation and Karachi hosted their very first public performance. During the following 10 years, they toured various parts of the world and finally returned to Karachi.

The first quintet they played was legendary composer Ludwig van Beethoven’s quintet in E-flat for piano and winds, Op. 16. The composition had three movements. The first and the last movements were relatively faster. The middle movement was slow and had some beautiful pieces where each individual wind instrument was allowed to shine with the piano’s support.

The last movement was cheerful and full of surprising turns. As it ended, the musicians received a deserving applause.

The band announced that after Beethoven, they would play a quintet composed by Gieseking. A musician explained that Gieseking was a renowned pianist particularly famous for his interpretations of Debussy. He also had a few original compositions to his credit, one of which was played by the Ensemble 4.1.

The composition had various themes coming one after another. Some were cheerful and others sombre. It sounded like a film score having pieces describing various situations of a movie.

The ACP must be praised for hosting such an event. However, it appears that in order to fill the entire auditorium, some youths, who included music students which was evident from their guitar cases, were forced to attend the event. As they had not come of their free will, they chattered, used their phones and continuously produced distraction on the back rows. If the ACP had ensured their presence, it should not employ such tactics next time. A half-filled auditorium with true enthusiasts is better than a full auditorium with distractions.