Due to unforseen circumstances, the Greenwich Piano Trio will be unable to give the concert this week. Instead, we will be joined by the world famous Fitzwilliam String Quartet.
The Fitzwilliam is now one of the longest established string quartets in the world: founded in 1968 by four Cambridge undergraduates, the group quickly achieved international recognition as a result of its members’ personal friendship with Dmitri Shostakovich and their subsequent championing of his string quartets following his death. He entrusted them with the Western premières of the last three, and before long they had become the first ever group to perform and record all fifteen.
These discs, which gained many international awards, secured for them a worldwide concert schedule and a long term recording contract with Decca. Whilst the FSQ’s pre-eminence in the interpretation of these works has persisted, the authority gained has also been put at the service of diverse other composers, from the late 17th century to the present day. It remains one of the few prominent quartets to play on historical instrument set-ups, but has simultaneously brought about the addition of nearly 60 new works to the repertoire. Its involvement in 2013 with celebrating Britten's anniversary, and before that the chamber works of Delius and Grainger, are but two recent manifestations of the players’ enthusiasm for using anniversaries to promote less familiar music – following Vaughan Williams in 2008: thus it would appear that England is gradually taking its place alongside Russia and Vienna as a principal area of speciality, while in 2015 they looked further north, to honour the joint 150th birthdays of Glazunov, Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.
Performances to include:
Schubert’s String Quartet in G major, D887.
The next lunchtime concert is on Thursday 8 December and will be performed by Ivana Gavric.
Join the LSE Choir and Orchestra on Tuesday 6 December for the LSE Christmas Concert in the beautiful surroundings of St Clement Danes Church.
More about this event
Just economics and politics? Think again. While LSE does not teach arts or music, there is a vibrant cultural side to the School - from weekly free music concerts in the Shaw Library, and an LSE orchestra and choir with their own professional conductors, various film, art and photographic student societies and regular public exhibitions. For more information please visit LSE Arts and Music.
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