Roderick Williams & Carducci Quartet

Event details

Roderick Williams  baritone
Matthew Denton  violin
Michelle Fleming  violin
Eoin Schmidt-Martin  viola
Emma Denton  cello

Schubert   String Quartet no. 10 in E-flat, D. 87
Schubert   Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795, arr. Roderick Williams

Roderick Williams is one of the UK’s most sought-after baritones and is constantly in demand on the concert platform and in recital. In 2016, he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the Year award and was awarded an OBE for services to music a year later. He is joined for this exclusive performance by the award-winning Carducci Quartet, who The Strad has described as presenting ‘a masterclass in unanimity of musical purpose’. One of the most accomplished and versatile ensembles in the world today, they regularly appear at prestigious venues and festivals across the globe.

An all-Schubert programme opens with the composer’s Tenth String Quartet, which he wrote when he was only 16 years of age. It is often referred to as the ‘Haushaltung’ (‘Household’) Quartet, as it was written to be played by members of Schubert’s family and is not as technically demanding as the composer’s mature works.

With its themes of love, death, travel and nature, Schubert’s great song cycle Die schöne Müllerin offers a dramatic portrayal of unrequited love. The role of the piano in the work is notable for how it provides far more than mere accompaniment and becomes a true conversational partner for the voice. In this unique reworking of the cycle, arranged and performed by Roderick Williams, audiences will experience how the rich and nuanced timbres of the string quartet add an intriguing new dimension to this musical conversation.

‘High-octane playing balanced control with devil-may-care spontaneity’ (The Guardian)

‘A performance of supreme clarity, focus and precision’ (Gramophone)

'Schubert’s writing for the piano in Die schöne Müllerin is perfect, idiomatic, delightful. There is no single, strong reason why anyone should want to transcribe this music for instruments; pianists are well able to conjure all the atmospheres and textures throughout the cycle by themselves. However, Schubert’s affinity for string chamber music (as well as for choral music, incidentally) often results in linear part-writing within those piano parts, making transcription particularly easy. Sometimes, his writing feels almost like an open invitation for scoring. My personal desire to perform with chamber groups is more borne of evangelism for the art song repertoire. My collaborative pianist colleagues and the audiences for whom we regularly perform are already converts. It can sometimes appear that the realms of art song and of instrumental chamber music are separate domains. My hope is that by providing more opportunities for overlap, everyone will benefit.' - Roderick Williams