Music Chamber

Henry Purcell (1659-1695) 3 Fantasias

W A Mozart (1756-1791) String Quartet in C Major K465 'Dissonance' 

Adagio; Allegro ~ Andante cantabile ~ Menuetto: Allegro ~ Allegro

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) String Quartet in F 

Allegro moderato - Très doux ~ Assez vif - Très rythmé ~ Très lent ~ Vif et agité

 

 

Canadian Warren Zielinski studied at the Rotal College of Music (RCM) winning an Exhibition scholarship, Concerto trials and numerous prizes while studying modern and Baroque violin. He has been working professionally since 1996 and has performed and recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Symphony & Concert Orchestras, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the John Wilson Orchestra. As a Baroque violinist, Warren has performed with ensembles such as the New London Consort, La Serenissima, Gabrielli Consort, Musicians of the Globe, Avison Ensemble and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Warren is also in demand for session work. He has played on 500+ Pop tracks and over 100 of the biggest and well-known Hollywood film scores. Patrick Kiernan studied at the Royal College of Music where he founded the Brindisi Quartet, which appeared at many of the world’s great concert halls and broadcast regularly on BBC radio. The Quartet’s CD recordings achieved international acclaim, winning a Gramophone award. Patrick has studied chamber music with the Prague, Guarneri and LaSalle Quartets and has coached ensembles at the Britten-Pears School, the University of Ulster and the Royal College of Music. He has played frequently with the Nash Ensemble and was a principal player with both the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. He has appeared as guest leader with the City of London Sinfonia. Patrick plays on an early 19th century violin by Ceruti. Martin Loveday was born in Zimbabwe and began his musical studies soon after moving to England in 1964. He was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where he won numerous prizes for solo and chamber music performances as well as a scholarship to continue his studies with Pierre Fournier in Geneva. Martin was a founder member of the Hanson String quartet making several recordings – one of which was voted “record of the year” by the Guardian newspaper. He then joined the Hartley Piano Trio and now divides his time between his session work and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. His cello was made in 1724 in Naples. Bruce White graduated from the Royal Academy of Music a major prize winner both in chamber music and solo studies. Bruce has played or been a member of many ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Michael Nyman Band, ‘Nigel Kennedy does Hendricks’, Ballet Rambert and the London Session orchestra. Bruce is a regular faculty member at the Apple Hill Centre for chamber music in New Hampshire, aiding the continuing efforts of 'Playing for Peace’.

 

It was between 1782 and 1785 that the six dedicated to Haydn quartets were composed. As musicologist Alfred Einstein says, "Mozart did not allow himself to be overcome. This time he learned as a master from a master; he did not imitate, he yielded nothing of his own personality." He followed Haydn’s lead in conceiving the string quartet as a four-part discourse, shared by all the instruments. Their respect and admiration being mutual, Haydn was, in turn, to be influenced in his own subsequent quartets by these quartets that Mozart dedicated to him. The C major Quartet was the last of the series to be composed. It’s appellation “Dissonance” refers to the  introductory adagio’s opening passage. As is usually the case, the composer had nothing to do with this nickname. And, if you’re expecting earcrushing dissonance of a contemporary nature – forget about it! The “dissonance” occurs in the opening passage; a progression of chords over a pedal point by the cello. While it is a rather chromatic passage, it’s quite within the rules of 18th century harmony. What this opening passage achieves is a deliberate sense of ambiguity. Mozart is keeping us in the fog, rather than clearly establishing the key of C major. With the Allegro that follows this introduction, the fog has lifted and we are the sunny key of C major. The second movement andante cantabile is considered to be the heart of the work; a lovely, lush, lyrical (forgive the alliteration) work. The third movement menuetto is interesting in that central to it is a rather agitated section that places it way out of the realm of a courtly or even country dance. The finale is a good natured romp ala Haydn, using his type of clipped themes and a device that Haydn was an absolute master of.. ...the pause.

 

The similarities between Maurice Ravel's only work for string quartet, the String Quartet in F major, and Claude Debussy's only work for string quartet, the String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10, can hardly be avoided or ignored. During the early years of his career, Ravel was frequently and sometimes vehemently criticized for having copied Debussy, and it was only later that musical society began to realize that, in the realm of piano music at least, it was equally possible that Debussy had imitated his younger colleague. With the String Quartet in F, composed in 1902 and 1903 and then revised up to 1910, however, Ravel seems more certain to have relied on Debussy's 1893 Op. 10; as emotionally, psychologically, and even structurally different as the two works are, one could never accuse them of having a language barrier. But, whereas Debussy's quartet is the work of a headstrong progressive still on his way to developing a mature, personal style, Ravel's is the work of an already mature artist more concerned with craftsmanship and traditional structure than with innovation. Not surprisingly, given their relative places in their careers when the two composers wrote their string quartets, Ravel's is the sounder piece of music and Debussy's is the more groundbreaking. Incidentally, Debussy, by all accounts, adored Ravel's piece, and though it makes the cut by just a couple of years, it is probably the most oft-played string quartet of the twentieth century. Ravel dedicated it to his teacher, Gabriel Fauré. The opening movement's pianissimo second theme is as hollow and melancholy as the first theme is warm and inviting. In the second movement, which serves as the Quartet's scherzo, Ravel moves into the pizzicato world already explored by Debussy in the scherzo movement of his String Quartet; the central portion (one hesitates to call it a "trio section") calls for the players to put mutes on their instruments. Bits of music from earlier in the Quartet can be heard, wearing new clothes, in the slow movement; likewise in the finale, which plunges straight into a frantic 5/4 meter bombast at its start, lightens up in the middle, and then ends in a blaze of zeal.