The Edinburgh Quartet
St Cecilia’s Hall 28/10/25
Edinburgh Quartet: Sadie Fields, Gongbo Jiang (violins), Catherine Marwood (viola), Mark Bailey (cello).
On a sunny autumnal lunchtime, a good-sized audience disposed themselves on the Germolene pink seats of the Sypert Concert Hall at St Cecilia’s Hall. We were there for the second of six concerts from the Edinburgh Quartet constructed around Beethoven’s six Opus 18 string quartets. There was no physical concert programme (so no crib sheet for your reviewer), but each piece was introduced by the Quartet’s Leader Sadie Fields. Her well-constructed introductions gave a brief description of each piece and then elaborated on the Quartet’s response to the music.
The first piece was Haydn’s String Quartet Opus 76 No. 5, a firm favourite of the musicians. Haydn is said to have expanded the quartet idiom and created a new quartet language. This quartet, from his last completed set, is the distillation of all his musical experience. The Edinburgh Quartet played this monumental piece with enthusiasm and verve, and it sounded to me as fresh as if it had been newly composed.
Next came ‘Poem for String Quartet’ by Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), a new piece to me. Clarke was a composer and viola virtuoso musically educated in England before a permanent move to America after World War 2. In her early career she submitted compositions to publishers under a male pseudonym, as she found that compositions bearing a male name were more readily accepted than those submitted under her real name. ‘Poem’ is one of only two surviving pieces that Clarke wrote for string quartet, and it shows the influence of musical Impressionists such as Debussy and Ravel. With its muted string sounds, this 138-bar piece is calm and reflective. Catherine Marwood’s viola has a substantial role here. Clarke felt there was a lack of quality parts for the viola because string quartet composers often "forgot" it. She felt that the viola “has a very personal tone of its own, extremely sympathetic, and capable of great possibilities.” No argument from me. Although intended to form the second movement in a never-completed string quartet, ‘Poem’ stands on its own as a calm, contemplative miniature.
The final piece was Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 18 No. 2. Composed just two years after the Haydn, it shows Beethoven almost at the beginning of his quartet journey. It is light and sunny (for Beethoven), and clearly shows the influence of Haydn (whom Beethoven knew and revered) as well as Mozart (whom Beethoven may have met). This is the most classical of the six Opus 18 quartets, and is distinctly Haydenesque. The Edinburgh Quartet gave a bright and clean account. Who, listening to this, could foresee that Beethoven would go on to compose his stormy, groundbreaking late quartets? Following Haydn, Beethoven exploded the quartet idiom and created a new kind of musical communication. These two pieces contrast the old master in his mid-sixties towards the end of his career, and the new master at 29 just beginning his.
This is the first time I have heard the Edinburgh Quartet at St Cecilia’s Hall. The setting of a concert is an integral part of the musical experience, and this is a match made in musical heaven. The elliptical shape of this Georgian concert hall, with its lush, warm acoustic, is the perfect setting for this series of concerts. I look forward eagerly to the rest of the series.
See: https://www.edinburghquartet.com/ for further information
