Classical and Opera: The Edinburgh Quartet - One four all

Published on Tuesday 16 February 2010 20:19

The line-up at the gala concert celebrating Edinburgh Quartet's half century illustrates why it has managed to survive for so long

• The Edinburgh Quartet may not have the glamour of Bond but its longevity speaks volumes

DOES the standard string quartet still have a relevance in the 21st century? Its most visible manifestation these days might suggest it has, although not in the same way its unchanging familial blend of two violins, viola and cello – the sacred cow of classical chamber music – fired the muses of composers from Haydn to Shostakovich and beyond.

After all, what pop star doesn't appear on the telly these days without a long-legged bevy of pouting string-playing beauties – usually four – cavorting sensually, burning resin salaciously in the background and somehow sounding like a full Mantovanian string section? In that context, the string quartet has been reduced to the dismal level of gratuitous eye candy.

But while doom-mongers might argue that the string quartet died a death the day girlie foursome Bond got their kit off to pose nude for an album cover that made more headlines and turned more heads than the musical content, others are quick to point out that Bond's failure to make any real headway as serious musicians – where are they now? – is a sure sign that the genre in its purest form is not threatened by today's fly-by-nights attempting to hijack it.

A case in point is the Edinburgh Quartet (EQ) which, for half a century, has held the unique position as Scotland's only full-time resident string quartet. To mark that achievement, and as part of a whole celebratory season, it is presenting a 50th Anniversary Gala Concert at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh on Friday.

Founded in 1960 – somewhat illogically as a successor to the former New Edinburgh Quartet – the EQ has sustained a lifeblood association with Edinburgh's universities, originally as resident quartet of Edinburgh University, but now more directly associated with the Ian Tomlin Music Academy at Edinburgh Napier University, which is now its major backer, although there is still a strong link with the older institution, as seen through its regular appearances at the Reid Hall. In the west, it has built strong links with Glasgow University. On top form, its Haydn or Beethoven is distinguished and fresh. As demonstrated last season, it has a mature respect for such great Romantic quartet writers as Mendelssohn. The Quartet's discography is no less distinguished, encompassing a complete survey of former Edinburgh lecturer Hans Gal's quartets, recordings of Scots composers Thomas Wilson, Bill Sweeney, Kenneth Leighton and Robert Crawford, as well as authoritative readings of more recent music by postgraduate composers emerging from Edinburgh University, among them the likes of Kim-Ho Ip, Julian Wagstaff and Anothai Nitibhon.

"The string quartet is a fundamentally true ensemble," says the longest-serving of the current line-up, violist Michael Beeston, who joined the EQ in 1971. "Not only was it a primary source of inspiration for Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, but it is such an important ensemble for today's composers, either on its own, or in partnership with other instruments." Friday's programme reads like a manifesto of that belief.

Haydn and Mendelssohn are both featured. So too are Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge (singer Andrew Staples replacing the indisposed Philip Langridge) and a newly commissioned quartet Spieltriebe by Howard Blake, best known for his sweet-scented soundtrack to the animated classic The Snowman.

Why Blake, who doesn't strike me as the most obvious candidate for a string quartet commission? "There's a link with our past," Beeston explains. "Howard was a fellow student at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Miles Baster, the violinist who established the Edinburgh Quartet 50 years ago, and worked with Miles as his accompanist."

Mention of its founding member is a reminder of the mixed fortunes the Quartet has encountered, not least that moment in the early 1990s when Baster suddenly disappeared. "We'd just returned from a European tour, and had started working on a new piece for small pipes, percussion and string quartet, which we were taking to Skye on tour. Miles just didn't turn up." He was discovered in Cornwall ten days later, but took the decision then to leave the quartet.

Experiences like that can have a devastating effect, especially in such an intense and intimate environment as a quartet, where near-telepathic instincts play a critical role in driving the corporate dynamic and thus shaping performances. Losing Baster must have been a body blow.

But a reluctance to stand still ensured then, as it ensures now, that the ensemble has remained dynamic and relevant. "There are two modes of operating as a quartet," says Beeston. "There's the traditional approach of the legendary Amadeus Quartet, which was not an ongoing thing. Its four original players 'were' the Amadeus, so when one died the rest just stopped. Others, like the Aeolian Quartet, simply replaced outgoing members and kept going. That's the approach we've always taken."

Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. "You get to a stage with new personnel where it doesn't seem to be working and someone might leave," says Beeston with honest reference to the fact that, since Baster's departure, there have been at least four first violins.

But today's Edinburgh Quartet seems to be, and sounds like, a stable unit. The bright and youthful Tristan Gurney on first violin has proved a prize find alongside the more seasoned trio of second violinist Philip Burrin, cellist Mark Bailey and Beeston on viola.

Like Doctor Who, the faces change from time to time, but the ethos and purpose remain the same, refreshed by new ideas and fresh challenges. And not a leggy blonde in sight.

• The Edinburgh Quartet's 50th Anniversary Gala Concert is at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on 19 February. For more information, visit www.edinburghquartet.com

CRITIC'S CHOICE

RSNO: Tristan and Isolde Perth Concert Hall, 18 February; Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 19 February; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 20 February

NEEME Jrvi is back with his old orchestra in another of Henk de Vlieger's epic orchestral versions of Wagner operas, this time the great passionate love story of Tristan and Isolde. Sibelius's Pelleas et Melisande sets the scene.

&149 Tel: [phone] (Perth); 0131-228 1155 (Edinburgh); 0141-353 8000 (Glasgow)