Recording Simon Bainbridge and Edward Cowie

In 2019 we recorded the (then) most recent quartets of two very distinguished British composers – along with music from early in their careers. Short-circuiting 40+ years of compositional experience, life experience, and perhaps above all, listening experience, in performing pieces from different ends of the continuum is exciting and revealing. I’m often struck more by the identity that binds the work together than the more obvious surface ‘developments’. A disc of Edward’s 3rd, 4th and 5th quartets was released in 2016 and his 1st, 2nd and 6th in 2020. Simon’s second quartet was finished in 2016 and we released that with his first (commissioned by André Previn in 1972), along with the Clarinet Quintet (1993, with Linda Merrick) and Cheltenham Fragments (2004).

It has been a great privilege to work with both of these important figures. Having Simon at the performance filmed below was a special experience, and we were delighted that the disc, on which we worked closely with him, was released shortly before his untimely death in 2021. Our work with Edward continues apace!