Exquisite technical competence displayed at Warwick concert

IT’s neck and neck between Heath String Quartet’s Pump Room concert in January and last Sunday’s Doric String Quartet for the performance of this winter. Heath was reported as very fresh and quick-witted, Doric was extraordinarily imaginative and extremely sensitive.

Fortunately, both concerts were recorded by BBC Radio 3 for mid-summer broadcasting. Is it the presence of microphones which gives players the confidence to play both very quietly and most delicately?

Cellist, John Myerscough keeps Doric afloat throughout and the quartet is virtuosi of the highest order.

As father of the quartet, Haydn is credited with perfecting the balance between the four instruments. His Opus 20 ‘Sun’ quartets are recognised as advanced compositions for the early 1770s, and No 4 in D minor develops a tragic tone in the slow movement and a finale, presto scherzando, one of his most enterprising. Doric play Haydn with a polish and considerable lovableness.

Doric champions Chausson’s sole three-movement string quartet in C minor. Myerscough believes it’s a crime the quartet is not better known. This piece is opus 35 of 39 opus-numbered pieces and was unfinished at his death caused by crashing his bicycle into a wall. Doric are doing their best to promote it by including it in concerts in Bruchsal, Germany, York, Vienna, Bradford-on-Avon and Hoxne, Suffolk, during the upcoming three months. It is, at times, solemn with much intellectual rigour and its charm has attracted special attention by Doric.

Schubert’s Quartet in D minor Death and the Maiden, perhaps the most famous of all string quartets - played with exquisite technical competence - brought the terrific afternoon to a close. Look out for the broadcast on Radio 3 in June.

Clive Peacock