The Edinburgh Quartet
Tuesday 15 November 2011
“The Edinburgh Quartet has never played better… scorchingly focused performances.”
The Herald
“For fifty years the Edinburgh Quartet has been one of the leading chamber ensembles of the UK. I feel proud to be associated with them as they enter their second half-century under the dynamic leadership of Tristan Gurney, providing some of the most exciting performances in the business.”
James MacMillan, Patron
Programme
Quartet in D Major K499 'Hoffmeister' Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)Quartet No 7 Dimitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975)
Quartet in F Major “Razumovsky” Opus 59 No 1 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Click to enlargen photos
The Edinburgh Quartet was
founded in 1960 and quickly became established as one of
Britain's foremost chamber ensembles, appearing regularly
at prestigious venues across the country including London's
Wigmore Hall and The South Bank Centre. It achieved
international recognition after winning the Contemporary
Prize at the Evian-les-Bains String Quartet Competition and
has since toured extensively across Europe, the Far East,
North and South America and the Middle East. The Quartet
have made numerous BBC TV and BBC Radio 3 broadcasts and
can also be heard on Classic FM. 2010 marks the Quartet's
fiftieth anniversary and it is now one of the longest
running chamber ensembles in the UK with a busier
performing schedule than ever before.
The Quartet is resident at Glasgow University and Edinburgh
Napier University and also collaborates with Aberdeen and
Edinburgh Universities. In addition to a regular classical
concert series at each of these institutions, the Quartet
is committed to nurturing talent and championing new music.
The ensemble has worked with many important and prolific
composers of our age, including the Quartet's patron, James
MacMillan and Michael Tippett, who selected the Edinburgh
Quartet's recording of his First Quartet for re-release on
EMI shortly before his death.
This recording is representative of the Edinburgh Quartet's
extensive discography available on various labels such as
Delphian, Linn, Meridian and RCA. Recent recordings include
the complete Hans Gal String Quartets ('Editor's Choice'
Gramophone Magazine, 2007), the complete Kenneth Leighton
String Quartets ( 'The unanimity of their ensemble, even at
the densest polyphonic moments in flying scherzo tempo, is
very impressive.' BBC Music Magazine), as well as discs of
Bartok, Robert Crawford, Haydn, Schubert and Thomas Wilson.
Future releases include the complete Matyas Seiber Quartets
on Delphian Records, which were featured on a live
broadcast by the Edinburgh Quartet on BBC Radio 3.
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