Saturday 5th June 2010 - 7:30pm
The Heath Quartet
Oliver Heath 1st Violin
Cerys Jones 2nd Violin
Gary Pomeroy Viola
Christopher Murray Cello
with Philip Higham Cello
Beethoven String Quartet in E flat Op.127
Schubert String Quintet in C major D.956
With the Op 127 Quartet, Beethoven signalled his return to writing for the string quartet. This first of the final set was written during the same period as the Ninth Symphony and the Missa Solemnis. Although retaining the conventional four movement structure, Beethoven explores a totally new sound world, developing Haydn’s quartet form to produce a work of great power and intensity.
Schubert’s String Quintet D 956 was composed in the summer of 1828, in the last few months of his short life and just one year after the death of Beethoven. It uses two cellos instead of the more usual doubling of violas. It did not receive its first performance until 1850, more than twenty two years later. This beautiful work, symphonic in length, has come to be recognised as a masterpiece.
WCC brochure 2010 >>>