Chamber music

I won't bore you with the details of the makeshift raft, disappearing coastlines, and invoking Poseidon himself to escape the maelstrom, but there was afterwards a moment of peace when I was able to see the Sorkočević Quartet perform by candlelight in Dubrovnik's tiny Church of St Saviour (an odd name, as I thought there was only one saviour in Christianity, and that he hardly needed to be canonised).

The orchestra, comprised of flute, violin, piano and contrabass viola, performed:

• Handel's "Largo"
• Albinoni's Trio Sonata
• Sorkočević's Symphony No. 4
• Overture to Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro"
• Beethoven's "Coriolan Overture"
• Overture to Rossini's "Italian in Algiers"

They also performed an encore, which piece they announced but the name of which I didn't catch.

The atmosphere was intimate—there wouldn't have been more than fifty people in the audience, already more than half the little chapel's capacity—and the sound was warm and clear.  The small plan and high ceiling of the church are perfect for the acoustics of chamber music.  My favourite was the Cariolan Overture, which they performed with the dynamic sympathy required for Beethoven.  I thanked them afterwards for a wonderful concert.