Maxwell Quartet

Their close connection to the folk music of their homeland meets the high art of the classical string quartet in their programmes. The presentation of Scottish sounds is an affair of the heart for the four musicians.

Ancient psalms from the Scottish islands are followed by Edmund Finnis' first quartet, premiered in 2018. The Times discovered in it "affecting rocking patterns, expressive musings on gravely beautiful polyphony by Byrd, and the natural ease of its writing for strings". This is followed by an arrangement by the same Wiliam Byrd (1540 - 1623), the Elizabethan "Father of Music", who remained a Catholic throughout his life and wrote Catholic church music even during the dangerous turmoil of the English Reformation. At the end of the evening, the four full-bearded musicians leave the British Isles to venture into the heart of Viennese classical music with Beethoven's 15th String Quartet.

Ancient psalms from the Scottish islands are followed by Edmund Finnis' first quartet, premiered in 2018. The Times discovered in it "affecting rocking patterns, expressive musings on gravely beautiful polyphony by Byrd, and the natural ease of its writing for strings". This is followed by an arrangement by the same Wiliam Byrd (1540 - 1623), the Elizabethan "Father of Music", who remained a Catholic throughout his life and wrote Catholic church music even during the dangerous turmoil of the English Reformation. At the end of the evening, the four full-bearded musicians leave the British Isles to venture into the heart of Viennese classical music with Beethoven's 15th String Quartet.

Gaelic Psalms of the Western Isles of Scotland (traditional, arranged for string quartet)

Edmund Finnis - String Quartet No. 1 ("Aloysius")

William Byrd - "Ave verum Corpus", arranged for string quartet

Break

Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet in A minor, op. 132