A curiosity appended to the small Milhaud festival which the
B.B.C. has given during the last week was a performance at the R.C.M. of the composer's fourteenth and fifteenth string quartets by the Aleph and Martin String Quartets, who then played the two simultaneously as an octet. In 1848 Pietro Raimondi wrote three oratorios—Poliphar, Pharaoh and Jacob—which could also be performed simultaneously ,as one work, under the name of Joseph ; and perhaps it was in celebration of the centenary of this performance that Milhaud planned his quartets. I unfortunately missed the combined performance, but found very little interest in the two quartets ; it is possible that they achieved more signifi- cance by coalition. Instead, I heard another octet, Schubert's, played by the Amadeus String Quartet, Frederick Thurston, Dennis Brain, John Alexandra and Edward Merrett. The quartet, which alw played Mozart K.387, is an excellently trained ensemble, but lac both body and sweetness of tone, especially in the leader. This was largely balanced in the octet, where the wind-playing was
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