The Vanbrugh & Friends
Keith Pascoe, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Simon Aspell, viola
Ed Creedon, viola
Christopher Marwood, cello

Boccherini - String Quintet in E major G.402 [1802]
Beethoven - String Quintet in C minor Op.104 [1795/1817]
Dvořák - String Quintet in E flat major Op.97 ‘American’ [1893]

Cellist-composer Luigi Boccherini was the quintessential composer of quintets, whose lovingly crafted works reside in a secluded, shadowed space enjoyed by lovers of melancholy. The twelve quintets for two violins, two violas and cello have yet to reach the full light of day, despite their innovative harmonies and surprising turns of events. This is the very last of his well over one hundred quintets for various combinations. Beethoven wrote his darkly beautiful C minor piano trio Op.1 No.3 in 1795 and it became one of his most popular chamber works. He published this string quintet arrangement in 1819. West Cork Music’s Francis Humphrys writes eloquently of Dvořák’s viola quintet: ‘Its unquestioning overflowing of delicious tunes marks it as belonging to an age of innocence, unlike the intellectual questing of most contemporary music, which is entirely alien to Dvořák’s world. Instead we have an irresistibly infectious joy in music-making’

Supported by the Arts Council and RTÉ Lyric FM