From Haydn to Woolrich
The award-winning Sacconi Quartet is recognised for its fresh and imaginative approach. Formed in 2001, its four founder members continue to demonstrate a shared passion for the string quartet repertoire. They hold the post of Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music.
“The overall impact of the work and its performance was profound... their fine balance and near flawless ensemble provided the bedrock for a graceful yet rhythmically vital interpretation” Guardian
Haydn’s Lark quartet is one of his best loved. Published in 1790, it’s the familiar mix of Haydenesque seriousness, wit and playfulness.
Beethoven’s F minor is the shortest and most concentrated of his quartets – bubbling with energy and invention and powerful contrasts. The allegretto is austerely beautiful, but the piece ends with a surprise – a light and rapid coda skittering along like a comic opera.
The path is winding has been commissioned by the Festival from John Woolrich as the latest addition to his Book of Inventions – in the composer’s words a ‘jigsaw’ gradually being pieced together to reveal a whole. The sixth in a series which started two years ago, this will be its premiere.
Both Beethoven and Schubert had recently died when Mendelssohn wrote his Op 12 quartet. The influence of Beethoven’s rigour and Schubert’s passion and intensity can be felt. But the work is the composer’s own, from its ever-present lyrical romanticism to the forward momentum of the finale.
Concert dedicated to Earl Howe, retiring Chairman of the Friends of the Festival