String Quartets

'In a different league from the only readily available competition. The insight and imagination of the Chilingirian makes a persuasive case that this music should be given greater recognition. Recommended'
(BBC Music Magazine)

'This superb disc is a revelation' (The Guardian)

'Ripely affectionate performances from the Chilingirians, beguilingly recorded, and expertly annotated by Roger Nichols'
(Classic CD)

'Very fine performances' (International Record Review)

'The Chilingirian Quartet provides the perfect guide to these seldom-heard works…utterly compelling' (The Strad)

'Recommended' (Fanfare)

GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE

D'Indy's Quartet in D of 1882 is based around a four-note motif found in Mahler's First Symphony (which he almost certainly wouldn't have known) and the 'Bell' motif from Parsifal (which he certainly did know). Chausson left his C minor Quartet incomplete when he tragically died in a cycling accident. D'Indy completed the third movement making these two works an appropriate coupling.

Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society's Chamber Ensemble Award for 1995, the Chilingirian Quartet celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1996/7. With tours to thirty countries on six continents, performances in major concert halls throughout the world and recordings for numerous labels, the Chilingirian Quartet has become one of the world's most celebrated and widely-travelled ensembles. The Chilingirian is Quartet-in-Residence at the Royal College of Music, London, and gives concerts every season at the Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls.
The Chilingirian Quartet was formed in London in 1971, where BBC broadcasts were rapidly followed by invitations to the Edinburgh, Bath and Aldeburgh Festivals and to major centres throughout Western Europe, such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Munich Herkulessaal, Zurich Tonhalle, Vienna Konzerthaus, Stockholm Konserthuset and Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen. Since the Quartet's New York debut in 1976, the Chilingirian has made frequent coast-to-coast tours of America and Canada, and was invited by the New York International Festival to be Britain's contribution to the Festival's quartet series. In addition to tours to the Far East and Japan, extensive touring in Australia, New Zealand, Mrica and South America has made the Quartet equally well-known outside Europe and America.

TV and radio throughout Europe, National Public Radio in the USA and many other leading broadcasting organizations complement the Quartet's work for the BBC. The Quartet has recorded the core Classical and Romantic repertoire whilst also exploring less familiar works. Most recently the Chilingirian has recorded both of John Tavener's string quartets coupled with works by Arvo Pärt; a disc of Armenian folk song arrangements; the Tippett Triple Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Richard Hickox; a Panufnik disc, a Russian disc (Stravinsky, Schnittke, Roslavets and Firsova) and the premiere recording of Hugh Wood's Quartets 1 to 4.

Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Sept 2000)
"Two rarely encountered French string quartets given beautifully judged performances by the always inspired Chilingirian Quartet and recorded with atmosphere in two different venues."