Delius & Elgar: String Quartets Villiers Quartet

• Frederick Delius(1862-1934): String Quartet in E Minor, RT VIII No. 8 (1917 Version):
• 1 I. With Animation 07:29
• 2 II. Quick & Lightly 04:02
• 3 III. Late Swallows [Slow & Wistfully] 09:31
• 4 IV. Very Quick & Vigorously 06:19
• String Quartet in E Minor, RT VIII No. 8 (Original 1916 Version) [Reassembled by D. Grimley]:
• 5 I. Allegro moderato [With Animation] 07:30
• 6 II. Late Swallows [With Slow Waving Movement] 08:40
• Edward Elgar (1857-1934): String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 83:
• 7 I. Allegro moderato 09:01
• 8 II. Piacevole (Poco andante) 09:30
• 9 III. Allegro molto 09:23
• Total Runtime 01:11:25

Info for Delius & Elgar: String Quartets

The Villiers Quartet releases their landmark recording of string quartets by Frederick Delius and Edward Elgar. Recorded with producer Michael Whight and released on Naxos Records, the recording is the culmination of a Delius research project initiated with Professor Daniel M. Grimley of Oxford University where the VQ is Quartet-in-Residence. The recording notably contains the World Premiere Recording of two movements from the Delius Quartet (1916) in their Original Versions, uncovered together by Villiers Quartet's lead violinist James Dickenson, and Professor Grimley at the British Library in London.

For a generation of musicians who lived through the terrifying events of the First World War, responding to the seemingly incomprehensible impact of the conflict became a compelling creative challenge. Many promising younger figures, such as George Butterworth and Ernest Farrar, paid the ultimate price, killed in action on the Western front. The legacy of the war left its mark in other ways on the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who spent two periods of active service as an ambulance orderly in France. Edward Elgar and Frederick Delius, close contemporaries but almost diametrically opposed personalities, were too old at the time of the war’s outbreak to be called up for military duty (though Elgar was briefly a member of his local Hampstead Constabulary). For both men, however, the war had a profound effect upon their later work, and it is impossible to separate their two remarkable string quartets from the historical circumstances of their creation.

Elgar’s initial response to the war was to engage energetically in patriotic music-making activities intended to raise the public spirit. But the strain induced by the harrowing news from the continent eventually precipitated a nervous breakdown in 1917. Elgar’s wife, Alice, arranged their removal from London to a rural cottage on the edge of the Sussex weald. It was here that Elgar finally began to recuperate and compose once more, completing a series of three new chamber pieces (the Violin Sonata, Piano Quintet, and String Quartet), alongside his Cello Concerto. Elgar began sketching the quartet in the latter half of 1918, just as the war ground brutally to its conclusion. The first performance of the work took place privately on 19 April 1919, and the public première was given at the Wigmore Hall on 21 May by an ensemble including violinists Albert Sammonds and W.H. Reed, violist Raymond Jeremy, and cellist Felix Salmond.

At the start of the war, Delius and his wife were living in the village of Grez-sur-Loing, just south of Paris. As the Germans advanced swiftly toward the River Marne in the conflict’s opening weeks, they were forced to leave their house temporarily and evacuate to Orléans, where Delius was deeply moved by the sight of wounded servicemen and other refugees. Though they returned briefly as the German line was repelled, Thomas Beecham persuaded them to travel to England in November 1914, where the Deliuses stayed for the next 8-9 months. Here, Delius embraced the opportunity to hear music being performed both in London and elsewhere. – at a Hallé Orchestra concert in Manchester, for example, he was introduced to the Harrison sisters, Beatrice and May, for whom he would later write his set of three string concertos and sonatas. The Deliuses returned to France permanently in late November 1915, and in a letter to Percy Grainger dated 11 January 1916, he wrote: ‘we are so glad to be back in Grez again – our Garden was terribly neglected so we are both working in it every afternoon – No gardener is to be had – Otherwise one does not feel the war here whatever.’ Delius began to write his String Quartet in the spring, completing the first version of the work (in three movements) in June. It received its first performance by the London String Quartet at the Aeolian Hall on 17 November 1916 (where Albert Sammonds was again the principal violin). The Musical Times wrote of ‘a serious contribution to musical art – the most important, in fact, that has been heard in London during the present season’. Delius was nevertheless dissatisfied with the score, and revised it the following year, reworking the outer movements, adding a scherzo (drawing on material from an earlier abandoned quartet written c. 1888), and completely recomposing the slow movement, Late Swallows.

Delius never destroyed the materials for the first (three-movement) version of his quartet, and the autograph score, sketches, and an incomplete set of copied parts survive in the British Library.

For this recording, the original 1916 versions of the opening movement and of Late Swallows have been reassembled, and they present a fascinating comparison with the more familiar later (1917) version of the quartet. The original version of the opening movement (marked Allegro moderato) was more heavily scored, and has a much richer, darker hue than the later revision. The differences between the two versions of Late Swallows are much more radical. Formally, the two versions follow the same basic plan, but the original version opens with an elaborate ascending arabesque in the first violin, suggesting perhaps the soaring flight of the summer migrants in the movement’s title. The middle section is also recomposed: the original music has a Mahlerian sense of poignancy. It will never be clear exactly why Delius changed his mind about the original version of his Quartet, but this rare glimpse into his compositional workshop is a significant discovery.

The recent recording of Fricker’s String Quartets has gained widespread acclaim in the UK. “With impeccable timing, the Villiers Quartet have captured the current mood of edgy, querulous uncertainty with their release of the three magnificently bracing string quartets of Peter Racine Fricker...The playing of this highly talented quartet, champions of British music, is superb throughout and augurs well for their forthcoming release of Delius and Elgar.” (The Observer)

Villiers Quartet

The Villiers Quartet
is one of the most charismatic and 'adventurous' quartets of the British chamber music scene (The Strad). Nothing is outside of the VQ's repertoire as they define the string quartet for the 21st century. Dedicated to the established works of Beethoven, Haydn, and Mendelssohn, they are also renowned for their interpretations of English composers including Elgar, Britten and Delius. Having toured across the UK and internationally, they have been declared 'one of the best young quartets around today' (Jerry Horner, Fine Arts Quartet), and their performances of Shostakovich and Tischenko have been hailed as 'masterful playing' (Classical Source).

They have been a featured quartet in numerous festivals including the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, the Brit Jazz Fest, the English Music Festival, and the British Music Society. Known for championing the works of British composers, the VQ has been invited to present masterclasses on British music at Dartmouth College, Syracuse University, Goshen College, and the University of Nottingham. Their internationally acclaimed digital VQ New Works Competition encourages audiences to interact with contemporary music performance online, and supports the creation of new works for string quartet.

Named after Villiers Street in London's colourful musical epicentre, the Villiers Quartet encompasses the grand and iconic spirit of the extraordinary music tradition in London. Their debut CD for Naxos, The Complete Quartets of Robert Still, was praised for their 'sublimely articulate and concentrated readings' (Gramophone), and received 5-stars in Classical Music Magazine. In 2015, Somm Recordings releases their recording of Shostakovich and David Matthews piano quintets with pianist Martin Cousin, and they are the featured quartet on the soundtrack to the BBC television drama, Lady Chatterley's Lover. The Villiers Quartet are winners of the 2015 Radcliffe Chamber Music Competition and have been appointed Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Oxford for the period 2015-18.

Booklet for Delius & Elgar: String Quartets