Chausson: Concert & String Quartet Doric String Quartet, Jennifer Pike, Tom Poster

• Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899): String Quartet, Op. 35:
• 1Chausson: String Quartet, Op. 35: I. Grave13:02
• 2Chausson: String Quartet, Op. 35: II. Très calme07:19
• 3Chausson: String Quartet, Op. 35: III. Gaiement et pas trop vite07:59
• Concert in D Major for Piano, Violin and String Quartet, Op. 21:
• 4Chausson: Concert in D Major for Piano, Violin and String Quartet, Op. 21: I. Décidé14:59
• 5Chausson: Concert in D Major for Piano, Violin and String Quartet, Op. 21: II. Sicilienne04:19
• 6Chausson: Concert in D Major for Piano, Violin and String Quartet, Op. 21: III. Grave10:26
• 7Chausson: Concert in D Major for Piano, Violin and String Quartet, Op. 21: IV. Finale10:05
• Total Runtime01:08:09

Info for Chausson: Concert & String Quartet

This is the sixth recording by the Doric String Quartet for Chandos Records, and the discography is going from strength to strength. The album of Schumann’s String Quartets, Op. 41 was ‘Recording of the Month’ simultaneously in BBC Music and Gramophone, and nominated for a Gramophone Award in the Chamber Music category in 2012.

The Quartet here turns to the French composer Ernest Chausson. The work of this composer is deeply individual, but it does reflect some technical influences of Wagner too, and of César Franck, his other musical hero. In general, Chausson’s compositional style bridges the gap between the ripe romanticism of Massenet and Franck, and the more introverted impressionism of Debussy.

The String Quartet in C minor was the last piece on which Chausson would ever work. He had fully scored all but part of the third and last movement when in 1899, at the age of forty-four, he suffered a fatal bicycle accident – in fact, he was engaged in writing the last movement on the very day of his accident. Relying on the drafts left behind by the composer, Vincent d’Indy completed the final movement at the request of Chausson’s family.

‘Never have I had such a success! I can’t get over it. Everyone seems to love the Concert.’ These are the words that Chausson, clearly elated, wrote in his diary after the first performance, in 1892, of his Concert in D major for violin, piano, and string quartet. The work is a model of cohesion, with strong ideas and melodies of great impact. Indeed, the autograph manuscript is covered with alterations and crossings-out, a sign of the composer’s drive towards absolute perfection in this masterpiece of chamber music.

In the Concert, the Doric String Quartet shares the stage with another exclusive Chandos artist, Jennifer Pike, who in 2002, at the age of twelve, notably became the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She has given performances throughout the UK and abroad and, now aged just twenty-three, is widely regarded as one of the finest violinists in Britain. Tom Poster is internationally recognised as a pianist of outstanding artistry and versatility, equally in demand as a soloist and as a chamber musician across an unusually extensive repertoire.

“... The more I listen to this new Chandos release with the Doric Quartet joined by Poster and Pike, the more i like it. The piece is a strange hybrid, containing elements of concerto and chamber work, and leaving performers to figure out how best to approach it. A middle-ground approach seems to work best, and that’s the solution the current players adopt. That the Concert is coupled with a very satisfying performance of Chausson’s C-minor Quartet makes this new release a recommendation.” (Jerry Dubbins, Fanfare)

"Violinist Jennifer Pike, pianist Tom Poster and the Doric String Quartet have done much more than scratch the surface of this piece...it is their handling of the gradually building tension in the slow movement, from disquiet to impassioned pleading via reflection and agitation, that marks out as an especially fine performance." (BBC Music Magazine)

"There are plenty of opportunities for Jennifer Pike to display her sinuous, tender tone, while Tom Poster reminds us yet again why he's so highly regarded as a chamber musician...A real front-runner for the Concert, and the most convincing of advocates for the more problematic String Quartet." (Gramophone Magazine)

Tom Poster, piano
Jennifer Pike, violin
Doric String Quartet

The Doric String Quartet is now firmly established as one of the outstanding quartets of their generation. In 2008 they won 1st prize in the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, 2nd prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy, where they also received a special mention for their performance of Haydn, and the Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany.

Now in its 12th season highlights over the last year have included a critically acclaimed Haydn evening at Wigmore Hall broadcast by BBC Radio 3, debut recitals in Paris (Auditorium du Louvre), Milan and Frankfurt, and visits to the Schwetzinger, Florestan, Isle of Man and East Neuk Festivals. Further afield the Quartet toured throughout Japan and returned to Israel and South East Asia. They have collaborated with Mark Padmore, Chen Halevi, Julius Drake, Piers Lane, Melvyn Tan, the Leopold String Trio and Florestan Trio.

During 2009/10 the Quartet return to Wigmore Hall four times, as Quartet and in recitals with Philip Langridge, Andrew Kennedy (for a world premiere) and Alasdair Beatson. Future engagements include recitals at the Konzerthaus in Berlin and in Lucerne, Brussels and Hamburg, return visits to Israel and Italy, and debut concerts in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the USA.

In November the Doric’s first commercial CD is released on the Wigmore Hall Live label of their Haydn concert at Wigmore Hall on 15 January 2009 and in 2010 they record their first CD for Chandos as part of a long-term collaboration.

Formed in 1998 at Pro Corda, The National School for Young Chamber Music Players, in Suffolk, from 2002 the Doric String Quartet studied on the Paris-based ProQuartet Professional Training Program, where they worked with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, Hagen and LaSalle Quartets and with Gyorgy Kurtag. The Quartet continue to work with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet) at the Music Academy in Basel.

In 2000 the Doric String Quartet won the inaugural Bristol Millennium Chamber Music Competition which led to a seven year residency at the Wiltshire Music Centre combining a concerts series with education work across the region. They continue this relationship as ‘Artists in Association’. The Quartet went on to give recitals at the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall under the auspices of the Park Lane Group, appeared at the ORF (Austrian Radio) Funkhaus in Vienna in 2003 and made their Edinburgh Festival debut in 2006.

Alex Redington and Jonathan Stone completed their postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 where they studied with Howard Davis. Simon Tandree studied in Saarbrücken and Detmold with Dietmut Poppen. John Myerscough graduated from Selwyn College, Cambridge in 2003 and is now a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studies with Louise Hopkins.

The Doric String Quartet acknowledges the generous support of an Anonymous Foundation.

Booklet for Chausson: Concert & String Quartet