QUARTET CONCERTS.
BLAGROVE'S Quartet Concerts have commenced with every appearance of a prosperous season. They have the great advantage of combining the efforts not only of good players, but of men well-accustomed to each other's style. The result is in instrumental music what the glee- singing of BARTLEMAN and his coadjutors used to be : every effect is carefully studied and brought out—every roughness filed down—all is smooth, compact, and complete. Quartet-playing is a great musical luxury ; Quartet-hearing a minor one. It is a conversation in which each person says, or tries to say, something smart and brilliant in turn : but no conversation between four persons is smart and brilliant for three hours—and an entire evening of quartets is somewhat too much. The selection last night, the second concert of the season, was judiciously made. The composers were various, and, for the most part, of high re- pute. MOZART, BEETHOVEN, and SPOHR, though all of the same school, have yet abundant marks of individuality. Their chamber-music is formed on the same plan, but each composition has a charac- ter of its own. The most beautiful movement of the even- ing was the Andante in MOZART'S Quintet in C; in which the conversation between the violin and the viola was inte- resting throughout. Here old Bseu's rule, that "no part should speak unless it had something worth hearing to say," was strictly and happily followed. A Septet by ONsLow, for pianoforte, four wind- instruments, and double bass, introduced Mr. MaHLENFELDT (from Hamburg, we believe) as a pianoforte-player. His touch is vigorous, flexible, and brilliant ; and he was admirably supported by Messrs. CARTE, BOOSEY, JARRETT, LARKIN, and HowEo... The composition has not much to recommend it. ONsLow seems to have the power of pouring out passages of little interest to any extent : his compositions are beard without interest, and are most cordially welcomed when they approach their conclusion. Miss KEMBLE and Miss RAINFORTH were the singers. We presume Miss KEMBLE has resolved never to sing the music of her own country. At Covent Garden she sings—not the best Italian music ; last night she sang that of Germany and France, and again not the best of its kind. We have heard her in nothing yet that can be said to test a singer's powers. Well, we can wait. Miss RAINPORTH sang a very elegant ballad by BENEDicr, with excellent taste.
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