THE VIRTUOSO STRING QUARTET
MARJORIE HAYWARD (1st Violin) ; EDWIN VIRGO (2nd Violin); RAYMOND JEREMY (Viola);
CEDRIC SHARPE (Violoncello)

THE first of Tchaikovsky's String Quartets begins with a figure on all the strings together, which makes its effect rather by an unaccustomed halting syncopation in the rhythm than by any actual melody. The material which is used as the second subject is also more a matter of rhythm than of tune, running about in busy semiquavers.
The slow movement, well known in many arrangements, is practically a solo for first violin throughout. It has two melodies, the one with which the movement opens in a rhythm interchanging between three in the bar and two in the bar, and another which follows on it very naturally and easily, above a reiterated figure which the violoncello plays in plucked notes.
The Scherzo is lively and vigorous, and again, as at the beginning of the first movement, syncopation makes a striking effect. In spite of its energy, the minor mood lends it a hint of melancholy, which disappears in the vivacious Trio, in major.
The chief tune of the last movement begins at the outset. Another theme, in detached notes, has a loss important share in the movement, and at the end it is the first which, in a still more vivacious form, rounds the movement off brilliantly.
In the form of Handel's' Samson' - which is now usually performed, the tale begins after he has been blinded and when ho is a prisoner in chains. This air, eloquent of his grief at the loss of sight, comes quite near the beginning. Sir Walford Davies , in one of his talks to the ordinary listener, pointed out the impressive effect of the interval of the fourth at the words, 'No sun, no moon,' followed by the drop of a fifth where Samson mourns 'All dark.' The opening words are sung without accompaniment, and throughout, the air is impressive by its very simplicity.