Bicentenary of Lloyds of London
On Monday the 16th of May, the quartet were engaged to provide a very special kind of background music for a corporate function at Lloyds of London in Lime Street. The party was to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lloyds and this specific event was associated with the maritime insurance divsion, with members of staff [...]
Three, Four and Five….
Yesterday was another cold and rainy day, so a perfect opportunity to stay indoors exploring more lesser known pieces of chamber music for strings. Tony and Hannah (both cellists) were due to arrive at 4pm, so before lunch we got going with some pieces written for two violins and viola. As the range of instruments [...]
Exploring works for String Trio
With Louise away on a much deserved holiday to India, it was the perfect opportunity to hold another informal get together to explore some lesser known chamber works - but this time concentrating on pieces written for string trio. Apart from some well loved works by Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Boccherini, the string trio repertoire is [...]
Violent and Tormented!
Sunday was a busy day with a trip to MBJ studios in the morning to record some more samples for the string quartet playlist page. We opted to record some real wedding favourites such as Pachelbels Canon, the Bridal Chorus, Bridal March and a hymn! As usual, we kept studio time to a minimum and recorded [...]
Fiorillo Duet in C for Violin and Cello (Allegro Spiritoso)
Spohr, Gade and a huge Viola Cadenza!
Today we managed to play through seven complete works - two for string quartet, then as Louise (violinist) had to leave early, we tried out a further five for string trio.
Firstly, it was a special moment to finally play the Spohr Quartet in G (Op. 82 no. 2) - having spent so many hours re-setting the score [...]
Bruch, Coleridge - Taylor, Spohr, D’Indy
This week we seized another opportunity to get together for a sociable day of chamber music and explore some more pieces. Whereas last week I’d played the first violin parts and Louise had played second violin, we kept it interesting by swapping over today.
Playing second violin in the quartet is a completely different experience as [...]
Schubert, Van Bree and Spain Dunk!
One of the greatest pleasures of being a musician is getting together with colleagues just to play through chamber music for our own enjoyment. Rather than working hard in rehearsals preparing a piece for a concert or recording, we can just sight-read through new repertoire that we’ve never played before, try out lesser known pieces and sometimes [...]
Spohr String Quartet in G (Op. 82 no. 2)
Occasionally, you take on a task which at first seems relatively straightforward, but unfolds to become quite an endurance test…..
In our exploration of Spohr’s string quartets we have discovered some real gems. I’d put them in a bracket of well deserving but neglected works that really reward both listeners and players - they are creatively written, [...]
