Villiers Quartet: Discovering Delius

• Mozart - Quartet E-flat Major, K.428
• Delius – 1888 Quartet
• interval
• Ethel Smyth - Quartet in E minor

The Villiers present a programme featuring works by Mozart, Frederick Delius, and Ethel Smyth.

Opening the concert is Mozart’s sublime Quartet in E-flat Major, written with a rich exploration of chromaticism and dissonant harmonies. At the centre of “Discovering Delius” is the complete version of Delius’s first string quartet. Until recently, only the two final movements of the work were known to have survived. In 2019, the other two missing movements appeared for sale at auction and were purchased by the Delius Trust. These movements were prepared in first edition by Prof. Daniel Grimley, and the Villiers Quartet perform the work in its entirety at the JdP Music Building for this concert.

Alongside the Delius Quartet is a significant work by one of his contemporaries, Dame Ethel Smyth. Written in 1912, her Quartet in E minor reflects the work of an ambitious composer wanting to share her voice amidst a transformative time for women’s rights in the 20th Century.

Katie Stillman, violin I
Tamaki Higashi, violin II
Carmen Flores, viola
Leo Melvin, cello