"Quartet show off musical talents"

The Carducci String Quartet

The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury

Tuesday 13 March 2007, 7.30pm

Shropshire Star, 14 Mar 2007

String quartets by Mozart, Ravel and Beethoven were played The Carducci Quartet in their concert, promoted by Shropshire Music at the Lion Hotel.

From the opening notes of Mozart's Quartet in D major, K499 it was obvious that we were listening to four young players of exceptional talent.

Matthew Denton and Michelle Flemming on violins, viola player Eoin Schmidt-Martin and cellist Emma Denton are superbly matched.  Each has a full luxurious tone and were attuned to each other's playing with total empathy.

As with the other two quartets, in the Mozart all the players are given parts of equal importance and the viola and cello in particular produced sumptuous velvety sounds.

Ravel's only quartet is one of the gems of the quartet repertoire, influenced both by his fellow French composers and jazz.

It was perhaps here that we heard the Carducci quartet at their very finest, the rich, well-balanced sound never less than superb.

The very same virtues were at work in Beethoven's Quartet in C minor, Op 18 No 4.  Although an early work the energy, vitality and complexity already point the way to the miraculous late qof the composer's final years.

The performance was beyond criticism.

Andrew Petch

Last Updated : 18/03/2007