Malvern Concert Club: Brodsky Quartet

ELGAR CHAMBER MUSIC CENTENARY CONCERT

Brodsky Quartet

Daniel Rowland, violin leader and soloist
Ian Belton, violin
Paul Cassidy, viola
Jacqueline Thomas, cello
Martin Roscoe, piano
Elgar  String Quartet in E minor, Op.83

Elgar  Violin Sonata in E minor, Op.82

Elgar   Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.84

This very special concert celebrates the centenary of the first performances of the three major chamber works by Sir Edward Elgar, Founder of Malvern Concert Club, all written in 1918. The Quartet and Quintet were premièred at the Wigmore Hall in May 1919; the Sonata was also performed at that concert, though had been publicly played two months earlier. Malvern Concert Club presented the Quintet in November and the Quartet in December 1919, the Sonata being first played here in 1922. Elgar dedicated the Quartet to the original Brodsky Quartet, in honour of the promise he had made in1900 to write a work for it – though by 1919 its members were aged around 70, and in the event the première was by a quartet led by Albert Sammons.

It is therefore apt that tonight’s performers are the modern Brodsky Quartet – which also played for the Club’s own centenary in 2003. Since its formation in 1972 the Quartet has performed over 2,000 concerts on the major stages of the world and released more than 50 recordings. A natural curiosity and insatiable desire to explore has propelled the group in many artistic directions and continues to ensure them not only a place at the very forefront of the international chamber music scene but also a rich and varied musical existence. Their energy and craftsmanship have attracted numerous awards and accolades worldwide, while ongoing educational work provides a vehicle for passing on experience and staying in touch with the next generation.

The Quartet’s leader, the Dutch/English violinist Daniel Rowland, is a highly versatile, charismatic and adventurous solo performer in his own right, and tonight is joined in the Sonata by Martin Roscoe, ‘a pianist who both thinks and offers full-blooded playing of breadth and depth. In this country, he is an uncommon creature …’ [Daily Telegraph].

The full ensemble ends with the Piano Quintet.

This concert has been generously sponsored by the Elgar Family Charitable Trust

Ticket price includes a £1 contribution to our heritage fund.