Trust the Macau Festival to reveal musical secrets. Who, for instance, would guess that this is the 104th anniversary of Eduard Napravnik's Piano Quartet? Who, indeed, has ever heard of Eduard Napravnik? Well, the Moscow Piano Quartet, presently based in Portugal, celebrated this great Czech conductor in style by playing his piece. And in a most unusual programme, they also played Prokofiev's rarely performed First Violin Sonata and a most intriguing piece by the flavour-of-the-decade, Alfred Schnittke. The young Moscow group were impressive enough, if only for overcoming maddening handicaps. The Lou Lim Iok Garden villa is charming enough, but the cavernous acoustics give a gloomy 19th-century sound. Nor do the incessant wailings of audience babies or perambulating listeners help. Yet by dint of sheer enthusiasm, they made all three works accessible and exciting. None more so than the Prokofiev, which is stark, mysterious and at times absolutely ferocious. Sviatoslav Moroz plays 'Russian'. No greater compliment can be offered for this work. His playing was dark, almost gloomy. The bow was unashamedly harsh when necessary, though his intonation was less assured in the wispy, soft passages. Pianist Alexei Eremine dazzled with his fingers. The following Schnittke String Trio, a homage to Vienna, simpered, but redeemed itself with its amorphous quotes from the past. It was typical Schnittke time-warp and the Moscow group made it hypnotically fascinating. Which brings us to Napravnik. A transplanted Czech who premiered virtually every 19th century Russian opera, he was derivative as a composer. From the first bars, one was tempted to rename him 'Brahmsnik'. Nonetheless, the piece was effortless, lyrical, and plainly the work of a pleasingly skilled musician. Macau Music Festival: Moscow Piano Quartet. Lou Lim Iok Garden, October 17
