Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Click cover art to view larger version
Track(s) taken from CDH55135

Quartet for oboe and string trio, Op 70

composer

The Nash Ensemble
Recording details: June 1983
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: May 2003
Total duration: 14 minutes 51 seconds
 

Reviews

‘Ideal for those who want to push out the boundaries of their understanding of the 20th century British musical renaissance’ (The Mail on Sunday)

‘As nippy and neat as you’d expect from the Nash Players’ (The Scotsman)

‘A superb performance … this is a disc that will yield many pleasures’ (MusicWeb International)
This quartet was commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary Arts and written in the autumn of 1967. It is dedicated to Lady Norton and is the second of three works written with the oboist, the late Janet Craxton, in mind, the other two being the Sonatina Op 61, and Sinfonia Concertante Op 84.

The work begins with a fairly extended introduction, leading without a break into an Allegro. The whole composition is based on the interval of a third (sometimes major, sometimes minor) which is heard in the opening phrase of the introduction and again in the main theme of the Allegro, though here in a totally different context. The Allegro is in more or less traditional sonata form.

The middle movement is a kind of scherzo, growing out of a rhythmical figure for the strings and a rapid arpeggio (major and minor thirds) for the oboe. This is a Presto; a more relaxed middle section, corresponding to the Trio in a classical work, is followed by a much shortened version of the scherzo.

The last movement is brief but very slow, all four instruments taking up in turn a gently rocking figure that moves to and fro between two notes – always a major or minor third apart. The music becomes more animated, but returns to the opening figure and dies away, each instrument dropping out, one after the other, leaving the cello alone in the last bar.

from notes by Lennox Berkeley © 1983

Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...