Heath Quartet - Tippett: String Quartets (2015)

Sir Michael Tippett s complete String Quartets are given fresh perspectives by the vibrant and adventurous Heath Quartet. The first ensemble in 10 years to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society s Young Artist Award, the Heaths bring irresistible energy to these works. From Quartet No. 1, premièred in what was the first professional performance of the composer s music, and Quartet No. 3, written during the Second World War whilst Tippett, a committed pacifist, faced a prison sentence, to his landmark fifth and final quartet, Tippett s stirring and powerfully individual writing is recorded in the intimate acoustic of Wigmore Hall. Since being selected by YCAT and winning 1st Prize at the Tromp Competition in 2008 the Heath Quartet has forged a strong international presence. In 2011 they were awarded a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Special Ensemble Scholarship and undertook complete Beethoven cycles at the Facyl Festival in Salamanca and in Edinburgh. Highlights over the last year have included recitals at Wigmore Hall as part of the Emerging Talent scheme, including the premiere of a new work by Luke Bedford and collaborations with Stephen Hough and Ian Bostridge. Future engagements include complete Tippett and Bartók cycles, and a recital with the soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci at Wigmore Hall, debut recitals at the Louvre and Musée d Orsay in Paris, return visits to the Concertgebouw and their USA debut.

'They bring a sort of lightness to this music, because there s a lot of fugues and a rhythmic energy of this music to which they almost dance in places, but they find the intensity as well that s required' --Rebecca Franks BBC Radio 3 Record Review, 16th January 2016

**** 'incisive, vibrant performances ... Well worth exploring.' Fiona Maddocks The Observer, 17th January 2016 ----- 'This is a terrific set. Some composers are justly neglected. Tippett isn't one of them all hail the Heath Quartet for making this absorbing music available in such exciting performances.' --Graham Rickson The Arts Desk, 30th January 2016

'The Heath players manage the perennially tricky idiom with flair.' Paul Driver The Sunday Times, 17th January 2016 ----- ***** 'With warmth and dash aplenty, this young quartet really has the measure of these remarkable works: rhythms are deftly pointed, yet the sheer beauty of Tippett s writing is never sacrificed.' --Guy Weatherall Classical Music Magazine, February 2016