Unitarian Church, Brighton, 24 August 2014

Christine Messiter joined the regular string players for the final concert in the summer series, rounding off the afternoon with a bright and fast paced reading of Mozart’s Flute Quartet K285. The brief second movement allows the flute to indulge itself in a lyrical development which floats above pizzicato strings before the more buoyantly brisk Rondo finale.

The performance had opened with Mozart’s Dissonance Quartet, its slow opening section poised between Haydn and Beethoven, a dichotomy which Mozart relishes as the work progresses. Rich, often very dense writing, suddenly flowers into the lightest of lyrical moments. The warmth of the Menuetto  gives way to a rather old-fashioned but none the less attractive Allegro molto which has just enough fire to challenge us.

Between them came the premiere of a work by a Sussex composer – in this case Adam Swayne’s Reaches. Written for string quartet, the nine short pieces flow in to each other to trace the course of a day at sea. The composer’s introduction was helpful in pointing out key ideas though the work is atmospheric rather than narrative. The regular use of pizzicato, often against long held notes on a single instrument, was very effective and the slap of strings against the shifting shimmer and sense of openness was moving. The piece is dedicated to Leo Dawkins and, as with other works in this summer series, let us hope it is not the last time it is heard.

The quartet have done a very fine job this summer bringing us a wide range of familiar works alongside more challenging recent compositions. The large and very responsive audience at each event shows there is a real appetite for concerts like these and let us hope they return next summer.

The Winter season of the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra opens at the Dome on 5 October with works by Glinka, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich. www.brightonphil.org.uk