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24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Josef Haydn (1732-1809) String Quartet Op. 20 No. 2 in C (1772)

Moderato
Capriccio: Adagio
Menuet: Allegretto
Fuga a quattro soggetti: Allegro

Writing in four parts had been recognised both in theory and practice as the bedrock of string music long before the 1750s when Haydn started to compose string quartets. But four-part string music then had a variety of forms, none of which we would recognise as a ‘string quartet’ and was predominantly based on a basso continuo cello with optional keyboard, or was a light keyboard-less divertimento. The 18-year-old Haydn got into writing for a quartet of strings thanks to one Baron Fürnberg, who asked him to write something to be played at his place at Weinzierl in the Wachau valley. The four musicians were the local pastor, his estate manager, Haydn and the cellist brother of the Johann Albrechtsberger who later taught Beethoven composition. The resulting Op 1 & 2 quartets were still, both in name and form, divertimenti. Continue reading 24th February 2019 – Castalian Quartet – Programme notes by Chris Darwin

Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Strings Attached Review by Andrew Polmear

Word must have got out that something special was going to take place; the Attenborough Centre was fuller than we have ever seen it for a Coffee Concert. The Doric have played in Brighton before and been superb. There has been a change since the last time Continue reading Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Strings Attached Review by Andrew Polmear

Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Other reviews

 

Are we in a golden era of the string quartet concert? I can’t speak for nationwide but the Brighton Coffee Concerts sound and taste even better than they smell at 11 o’clock in the morning. It’s not just the ever soaring quality of the younger quartets’ playing. It’s what they choose to programme, then deliver.

Mind you, this audience Continue reading Coffee Concert 27th January 2019 – Doric Quartet – Other reviews