New recordings
/We’re delighted to share five recordings with you, filmed over the summer at the French Institute in Edinburgh. We really enjoyed getting together to record these and dearly hope it’s not too long until we are able to see you again too!
Our first piece is the four-part chanson Mille regretz by Josquin des Prez. The sombre atmosphere this piece creates seems fitting for this difficult time and the poignant text serves as a note to bid adieu to times past.
Edward Harper set three well known folk tunes for a string quartet. The first, The Lowlands of Holland, is a sad tune based on a girl disowned by her family for marrying a sailor who then drowns at sea.
This second piece, ‘The Ash Grove’, is in a sense two settings in one. The fragmented textures of the opening gradually coalesce to introduce a falling pentatonic motif which sounds as if it could be the incipit of a folk-tune. But in fact this is an instrumental version of Harper’s setting of a poem by Edward Thomas, from his song-cycle Lights Out (1993; for soprano, recorder, cello and harpsichord). The folk melody of the same name arrives later, introduced as though in response to the words of the poem (‘… I heard a girl sing / The song of the Ash Grove soft as love uncrossed’). In the quartet version, of course, we do not hear the words sung, but the sense remains of the folksong quotation as separate, set apart from the prevailing texture in cello harmonics and muted high violin and viola. Ghostly transcription of what was already a ghostly moment in the song, this music is twice haunted.
‘Mairi’s Wedding’ is the brief, rousing conclusion to the set: ‘Step it gaily, off we go / Heel for heel and toe for toe.’
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) String Quartet No. 61 in D Minor, Op. 76 No. 2 “Fifths”
We are entering our 60th Anniversary Season in a completely different world from when we entered our first season. As for many, this has been a difficult time and if you can help support us in anyway we would be very grateful. You can help by donating on our JustGiving page or you can contact Sara to find out more: friends@edinburghquartet.com.
