Alphonse Onnou (violin); Laurent Halleux (violin); German Prevost (viola) ; Robert Maas (violoncello)
WILLIAM PRIMROSE
Antonio Vivaldi , the celebrated Venetian violinist composer, who was born during the latter half of the seventeenth century, wrote many trios and sonatas for stringed instruments. He also composed a number of concertos, including the twelve entitled ' Concerti a quattro', early examples of the classical concerto form which was later to be developed by Bach. Handel, and finally Mozart.
Goossens's Fantasy Quartet was written in 1915 and dedicated ' to my friends the London String Quartet'. '. Philip Heseltine (Peter "Warlock) has recorded that in 1916 the quartet ' was sent in MS. to Frederick Delius , who pronounced it the best thing he had seen from an English pen ; and it is not improbable that the new resources revealed and suggested by this work may have served to break down his apparent aversion to quartet writing, since his latest work has been cast in this form '.
Bohuslav Martinu was bom in 1890 at Policka in Bohemia. He studied the violin at the Prague Conservatoire and later became a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he was associated until 1923. Having studied composition under Joseph Suk , Martinu then went to study under Albert Roussel in Paris, where he has lived ever since. In addition to a number of important orchestral works,