Charles Wood: Str Qrts

To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the Irish-born composer Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), SOMM Recordings is honoured to release his String Quartet No. 2 'Highgate' and String Quartet No. 4 'Harrogate' along with his Variations On an Irish Folk Tune. This follows SOMM's 2024 release of Wood's sixth and last String Quartet in a performance by the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet [SOMMCD 0692], which received a stunning review in The Observer, BBC Music Magazine, MusicWeb International, Klassik. Com and The Strad, and was a Gramophone recommended recording. Featured again on this album, the London Chamber Ensemble was formed in 2019 and is led by violinist Madeleine Mitchell. The ensemble has been praised for it's high quality chamber music-making (Musical Opinion) and it's passionate and persuasive advocacy [and] gripping interpretations (Gramophone. ) Charles Wood was born into a family of singers and musicians in Armagh, Ireland. He sang in the cathedral choir, became a student organist, and gained experience as a string player, particularly as a violist. By the time he was sixteen, Wood had begun to write chamber music. When, in 1883, he became one of fifty inaugural class members of the Royal College of Music-to study composition under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry-he had composed at least one movement of a string quartet. By April 1885, he had completed his String Quartet No. 1. Two years after acquiring his degrees in 1890, Wood composed a second string quartet, which he nicknamed the 'Highgate,' (It seems that he drew the name from visits to see his brother, William, who was the music master at Highgate Grammar School. ) While a little reminiscent of Brahms, the string quartet does point to Wood's emerging individuality. The unusual third movement, for instance, makes use of a seven-bar ground bass coupled with an austere theme for his own instrument, the viola. In 1898, Wood married compatriot Charlotte Georgina Wills-Sandford.  When she was taking the waters in the famous Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate in August 1912, he completed his Fourth Quartet-hence the nickname. Wood's personal voice is evident in this quartet partly through his use of Irish folk melodies and dance tunes as thematic material; as in the captivating reel-like rondo theme of his finale, which is based on one of the Irish Melodies by the Irish writer Thomas Moore. A frequent source for many of Wood's Irish arrangements was Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909). His scintillating Variations on an Irish Folk Tune, dating from 25 August 1916, were based on Melody No. 749 of the 842 melodies in the collection.