Sorrel String Quartet
Gina McCormack - violin
Catherine Yates - Violin
Robin Ireland - viola
Alice Neary - cello
Wed 21 February, 2007, 7.30 pm
Concord College, Acton Burnell
MOZART (1756 - 1791) - Quartet K589 in Bb
Allegro; Largetto; Menuetto: Moderato; Allegro assai
Mozart's last three quartets (K575, 589 and 590) were written between 1789 and 1790, at a time of increasing personal strife - his health was increasingly troublesome as was his financial situation. The failure of Don Giovanni in 1788 had compounded Mozart's already serious monetary problems and it was in an attempt to stave off further crisis that he traveled to Berlin in the spring of 1789. Here he played for Frederick Augustus of Saxony, receiving the much-needed royal gift of one hundred ducats and fortuitously met and played for Friedrich Wilhelm II, the cello-playing King of Prussia and patron of Boccherini. As a result, Mozart was invited to compose a set of six quartets and he quickly set to work, writing at least part of K575, the first of the set, on his way home. All three finished quartets of the planned six make prominent use of the cello.
K589, like K575, gives the impression of being lighter in style than its predecessors, those of the set dedicated to Haydn, but its apparent simplicity belies the sophistication of its construction and the satisfyingly tight concentration of musical ideas. Certainly, the "cantabile" nature of the themes makes for a markedly "melodic" perspective but the motivic exploring and instrumental interplay is no less skillfully crafted than that of the seemingly more complicated earlier works. Maybe it is Mozart's increased comfort and confidence within the medium that makes these last quartets seem so natural and effortless - he had after all had to devote "long and laborious study" to the earlier quartest, suggesting that he had not ben entirely at ease.
It is a rather sad footnote that it is not certain that the King of Prusia ever played, heard or even received the three quartets.
ROBERT SIMPSON (1921 - 1997) - Quartet No 7, Op 56
Tranquillo - Vivace - Tempo primo
Robert Simpson's output is striking, not only for its quantity (principally fifteen string quartets, eleven symphonies, a clarinet quintet, incidental music, a piano sonata and music for brass band) but also for its integrity, intellectual rigour and compositional deftness. A musicologist of note, he was fiercely interested in the music of Bruckner and of Neilsen and one can perhaps detect the influence of both on Simpson's music in terms of scale, structure and texture. Having studied with Herbert Howlles, Simpson is by no means afraid of beauty of line and has an innate sense of melodic expressivo which balances wonderfully with his intelligence of design.
Simpson's main passion outside music was astronomy and so, when Lady Susie Jeans, widow of the mathematician and astronomer Sir James Jeans, decided to mark his centenary with a concert in 1977, Simpson seemed a natural choice to compose a quartet especially for the occasion. Whilst there is no specific programme underpinning this quartet, it is by no means fanciful to detect the influence of space in general, and the night sky in particular on the music.
In one continuous movement, the quartet journeys through three clearly defined sections. The work opens with a gently pulsating repeated figure around which two rising themes intertwine. Calm for a daringly long time, these overlapping themes wind their way eventually to the central faster section. Here, a sparkling triplet figure dances through the ensemble with increasing energy and drive, pulling us towards two cosmic climaxes of some ferocity. The emotional centre of the work, extraordinary in its intensity occurs at the point where the central section merges with the last. As the opening pulsing figure reasserts itself, the heat starts to cool little by little and we are left with a sense of timelessness and peace.
BRAHMS (1833 - 1897) - Quartet in C Minor Op 51 No 1
Allegro; Romanze: poco adagio; Allegretto molto moderatoe comodo; Allegro
Despite a seemingly large output, nobody knows how much chamber music Brahms actually wrote. He was his own fiercest critic and, from boyhood on, would make periodic bonfires of those compositions with which he was dissatisfied. Even as death loomed, he spent much time in his study tearing up old manuscripts so they could not be published when he was gone. Indeed, it was fortuitous that the early Scherzo for violin and piano was in the hands of its dedicatee Joseph Joachim, who sanctioned its posthumous publication. Those compositions that were allowed to survive endured a regime of ruthless pruning and revision, sometimes undergoing such a transformation as to become something quite different from the original draft thus the C minor Piano Quartet started life in C sharp minor and was shielded from public gaze for twenty years, and the F minor Piano Quintet was a string quintet then a two-piano sonata before emerging in the form we know it today.
Listening to or playing the Quartets of Brahms one would scarcely guess at the deliberation and painstaking modification involved in their creation. The C minor Quartet (published 1873) is a case in point. The final product appears natural and cohesive, a satisfying marriage between classical formal structure and true Romantic spirit. The scale is large, the textures full yet lucid and the structural links (often compositional troublespots) are so inventive that we feel a real narrative is unfolding - at times shocking, at times suspenseful, at times comfortable but always well characterised. Of the three Quartets, this is arguably the most happy within the confines of quartet texture and sonority and it is not to denigrate these works that we can acknowledge that Brahms' natural luxuriance is better served by a larger number of players - he simply needed more elbow room.
THE SORREL QUARTET
Formed in 1987, the Sorrel Quartet is now recognised as one of the finest British quartets of today. The group is well known for the spontaneity, fiery commitment and powerful atmosphere it brings to its performances as reviewed by critics nationwide: the "Sorrel Quartet ... played with rare intensity and complete technical mastery" - The Daily Telegraph.
The Quartet has recorded twelve discs for the Chandos label: the complete cycle of Shostakovich Quartets and his Piano Quintet, works with which they have built up a strong association and empathy; all the major works of Britten and Carweithen; and CDs of Elgar, Mendelssohn and Schubert. Their CD of John Pickard's Quartets was released on the Dutton label and featured as Editor's Choice in Gramophone magazine, and the recording of the Elgar Piano Quintet with Ian Brown won the top recommendation slot in the programme "Building a Library" on BBC Radio 3.
A busy concert and broadcasting schedule has taken The Sorrel Quartet to all the major venues and festivals in Britain, including recently live recitals for BBC Radio 3 from Cheltenham, Belfast, Bristol and Swansea. Abroad, the Quartet has toured throughout Europe, North and South America. Recently the Quartet made its debut in Switzerland with a live broadcast for Swiss Radio, and they performed at the Kuhmo Festival in Finland as well as in Vienna and Carinthia, Germany, return visits to Austria and Switzerland and performances in Denmark and two Festivals in the south of France.
Many composers have written works for the Quartet, including Elena Firsova, Geoffrey Palmer, John Pickard and Simon Rowland-Jones. Premieres have also included works by John Tavener, Diana Burrell and Gerard McBurney, and, and last season, quartets by David Blake and Antony Powers. In the summer of 2007 they will be performing a new quartet by Simon Rowland-Jones, also written especially for them. The Sorrel Quartet has held residences at the universities of York, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle. The group has just come to the end of its latest residency, a three-year appointment as Quartet-In-Residence at Cardiff University.
The Sorrel Quartet is very grateful to Alice Neary for joining them while cellist Helen Thatcher is away on maternity leave.