Haydn | String Quartet in D, Op. 64 No. 5 The Lark |
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Larcher | String Quartet No. 1 Cold Farmer |
Brahms | String Quartet No. 3 in B flat, Op. 67 |
Albion Quartet |
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‘The four players moved together, thought together – taking their lead from Waley-Cohen’s lightly worn virtuosity and gloriously smoky sound’ Artsdesk
Haydn’s uplifting quartet The Lark takes its nickname from the soaring, birdsong-like quality of its playful theme. Written after one of his sojourns in England, the last movement is a rustic English hornpipe.
Brahms’ quartet in B flat opens with the call of hunting horns and is suffused throughout with a sense of sylvan beauty and spaciousness.
Austrian composer Thomas Larcher is well-known for his passionate connection with nature and the mountains where he lives. He writes that in composing his quartet Cold Farmer was ‘like stepping or falling into uncertainty, into a perilous state, an unconditional leap into spontaneity and direct emotion… like gasping for a painful but life-saving breath after having been under water too long.’