THE FSQ STORY

Founded in 1968 by four Cambridge undergraduates, the Fitzwilliam Quartet was one of the first of a long line of distinguished quartets to have emerged under the guidance of Sidney Griller at the Royal Academy of Music.

Undoubtedly it was their much documented Shostakovich connection which first catapulted them into the public eye, only a year into their Residency at York University: following the composer's widely reported train journey north to hear their British première of his thirteenth quartet their friendship (the composer’s own word!) prospered through correspondence, and the arrival of the next two quartets when they were finished. At the time of his death, in August 1975, plans had already been finalised for them to spend a week with him in Moscow, only a month or so later. Just before his own death Benjamin Britten later reported to them that Shostakovich had told him the Fitzwilliam were his “preferred performers of my quartets”. Having introduced his last three quartets to the West, they soon became the first ever group to record and perform all fifteen – complete cycles were given in a number of major centres, including London, New York, and Montréal. The recordings (now reissued for a third time) gained many international awards – including the very first Gramophone Award for chamber music (in 1977) and inclusion in the same magazine’s “Hundred Greatest-ever Recordings” (November 2005) – securing for them a world wide concert schedule and a long term contract with Decca.

If the quartet’s reputation was originally fostered by the Shostakovich connection, they are at pains to avoid resting on those particular laurels, and the subsequent exploration of masterworks from less familiar regions of the repertoire has long given their concert programmes and discography a recognisably unconventional look. Additionally they have always been enthusiastic in accepting the responsibility of promoting music of their own generation: the hotbed of New Music at York was a starting point, resulting in over 40 additions to the new century’s repertoire. It was also the university’s reputation for historical performance studies which encouraged them to carry an extra set of instruments for earlier repertoire – they remain one of the very few string quartets in Britain using period instruments, making them unique in that they perform on both early and modern set-ups (sometimes within the same concert!).

The Fitzwilliam had first been appointed Quartet-in-Residence at York (succeeding the Amadeus) on graduating from Cambridge in 1971, and remained there until 1986 (apart from three years at Warwick from 1974), enabling them to concentrate full time on quartet and academic work. In 1978 their university connections were extended to the USA, where they became Affiliate Artists at Bucknell, Pennsylvania. Their achievements were recognised there through Honorary Doctorates of Music – conferred in 1981 by Shostakovich’s son, Maxim. To complete the circle, they are now ten years into a new Residency, back at Fitzwilliam College Cambridge! Last year they began an association with Southern Sinfonia – a group which functions as a symphony, chamber, or baroque orchestra – with whom they play as section principals and soloists.

Highlights of 2009 include concerts at the Castle Hotel in Taunton in collaboration with Martin Randall Travel, concerts at the Cambridge Darwin Festival, a tour of Slovenia with soprano Susanna Ograjensek, tours of Scotland culminating in a performance of the Schubert Cello Quintet with cellist Moray Welsh, and our second Martin Randall Travel cruise from Athens to Istanbul – this taking in a number of ancient amphitheatres en route (most spectacularly, Ephesus).

Future plans include being artists-in-residence at the Ryedale Music Festival, North Yorkshire in July 2010 and at the Festival de l'Abbaye du Pin in Poitiers, France in August, another Scottish tour, a tour in South Africa, and a resumption of their collaboration with the German saxophonist Uwe Steinmetz and his jazz group. The year will be rounded off with more recording sessions for Linn, in which they will team up with Carolyn Sparey in the Bruckner string quintet – this following critically acclaimed CDs of the Brahms clarinet quintet (Lesley Schatzberger) and Wenlock Edge (James Gilchrist/Anna Tilbrook) – the latter nominated for the 2008 Gramophone Awards. The quartet will also be recording the complete quartets of composer and geologist John Ramsay. So, armed with both an enterprising new manager (www.rayfieldartists.com) and record company (www.linnrecords.com), the Fitzwilliam can look look towards the future with hopeful anticipation, as well as recalling its rich history with a degree of pride.