We decided at Friday’s rehearsal of the Brahms not to compete in the Cavatina Chamber Music Competition at Trinity. There were lots of reasons, but mostly it’s just that we haven’t quite got the final movement of the trio learned well enough to be able to play it confidently and convincingly. We’d rather take the time now to learn it properly, and perform better at a later date, than skim it now, learn it superficially, and have to undo that later to make a performance we can be proud of.
I am a little disappointed, I was looking forward to giving all those string quartets a run for their money, but I know that this is the right thing to do musically.
On the not-so-musical bright side, this means we have more time to think of a name for our little ensemble. “Triceratops” has been floated as it is a horn trio, but I think that would be more appropriate for a trio of horns, rather than a chamber trio with a horn in it. And I’m leaning toward trying to put together some sort of loosely-associated chamber group, because there’s so much out there and not all of it is with the same instrumentation. It feels like all the good names have been taken, and what we’re left with will be boring (“The Greenwich Chamber Group”) or pretentious.
Ideas? Suggestions? Your answers on a postcard, please.