Concert Review
Coull Quartet
Hellens, Much Marcle, nr Ledbury
3 June 2011
An Espressivo promotion
On a beautiful evening in June, balmy as an English summer evening should be, a delightful concert was held at Hellens Manor, Much Marcle.
Promoted by Espressivo (www.espressivo.org.uk), the string quartet recital featured the celebrated Coull Quartet, who showed the combination of maturity and freshness which characterises their performances.
The programme included a flowing, lyrical work by the young John Ireland and the premiere of a work – Partita for String Quartet – written by local composer Derek Smith, who was present to introduce the audience to the thoughts behind the piece. It was written as a homage to Thomas Tomkins who directed music at Worcester Cathedral for half a century in the early 17th century, before Cromwell intervened. The concert concluded with an expressive, expansive rendition of Beethoven’s ‘Rasumovsky’ Quartet No. 1.