This is the sixth recording by the Doric String Quartet for\nChandos Records, and the discography is going from strength to\nstrength. The disc of Schumann’s String Quartets, Op. 41 was\n‘Recording of the Month’ simultaneously in BBC Music and\nGramophone, and nominated for a Gramophone Award in the Chamber\nMusic category in 2012.

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The Quartet here turns to the French composer Ernest Chausson.\nThe work of this composer is deeply individual, but it does reflect\nsome technical influences of Wagner too, and of César Franck, his\nother musical hero. In general, Chausson’s compositional style\nbridges the gap between the ripe romanticism of Massenet and\nFranck, and the more introverted impressionism of Debussy.

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The String Quartet in C minor was the last piece on which\nChausson would ever work. He had fully scored all but part of the\nthird and last movement when in 1899, at the age of forty-four, he\nsuffered a fatal bicycle accident – in fact, he was engaged in\nwriting the last movement on the very day of his accident. Relying\non the drafts left behind by the composer, Vincent d’Indy completed\nthe final movement at the request of Chausson’s family.

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‘Never have I had such a success! I can’t get over it. Everyone\nseems to love the Concert.’ These are the words that Chausson,\nclearly elated, wrote in his diary after the first performance, in\n1892, of his Concert in D major for violin, piano, and string\nquartet. The work is a model of cohesion, with strong ideas and\nmelodies of great impact. Indeed, the autograph manuscript is\ncovered with alterations and crossings-out, a sign of the\ncomposer’s drive towards absolute perfection in this masterpiece of\nchamber music.

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In the Concert, the Doric String Quartet shares the stage with\nanother exclusive Chandos artist, Jennifer Pike, who in 2002, at\nthe age of twelve, notably became the youngest-ever winner of the\nBBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She has given\nperformances throughout the UK and abroad and, now aged just\ntwenty-three, is widely regarded as one of the finest violinists in\nBritain. Tom Poster is internationally recognised as a pianist of\noutstanding artistry and versatility, equally in demand as a\nsoloist and as a chamber musician across an unusually extensive\nrepertoire.

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