Robin Stevens: String Quartets & String Quintet Behn Quartet & Timothée Botbol

• Robin Stevens: String Quintet in C Minor:
• 1 String Quintet in C Minor: I. Adagio non troppo - Allegro molto moderato 10:10
• 2 String Quintet in C Minor: II. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 04:47
• 3 String Quintet in C Minor: III. Adagio non troppo 07:41
• 4 String Quintet in C Minor: IV. Finale. Allegro non troppo 06:53
• String Quartet No. 1:
• 5 String Quartet No. 1 31:01
• String Quartet No. 2 "Three Portraits":
• 6 String Quartet No. 2 "Three Portraits": I. Impulsive One 04:46
• 7 String Quartet No. 2 "Three Portraits": II. God-Seeker 05:42
• 8 String Quartet No. 2 "Three Portraits": III. Arguer 03:36
• 9 String Quartet No. 2 "Three Portraits": IV. Epilogue 01:29
• Total Runtime 01:16:05

Info for Robin Stevens: String Quartets & String Quintet

The British composer Robin Stevens is a great talent waiting to be discovered by the global music community. His varied, stimulating and expressive work arises from many influences - from the music of the Romantic era, to mathematics, his faith, and the influence of his main teacher in undergraduate days, John Joubert, and he is now producing substantial works for varied instrumental groupings, which are modernist and original, but yet immediately accessible.

This album contains the premiere recording of the String Quintet, an early work from his student days, rich in allusions to early 20th century works, but already containing many of the elements of his later work: tangy harmonies, intricate counterpoint, modal lyricism and often almost neo-Romantic expression. Above all the works are a reflection of the composer and his perceptions of the world and the people around him, yet at the same time universal in their appeal.

The two quartets are very different. The first was written in 2008 after the composer had recovered from a 17-year debilitating illness and while his style was developing considerably as he undertook his Doctorate. Its single movement is rich in variety, using a small few thematic ideas in constantly evolving forms. The second, from 2011, is a study of three character types (not necessarily real individuals) which are each distinctive but clearly related. The Behn Quartet is formed of players from England, the Netherlands, Portugal and New Zealand. The group was formed in 2015 and has given recitals at major venues and festivals across Europe. Previously holders of a fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music they are now Associate Ensemble at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Timothée Botbol, cello
Kate Oswin, violin
Alicia Berendse, violin
Ana Teresa de Braga e Alves, viola
Ghislaine McMullin, cello

Timothée Botbol
Swiss cellist Timothée Botbol is a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and a Park Lane Group Young Artist. He has given solo performances in the UK, Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy, in venues including St John’s Smith Square, Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, St James’s Piccadilly, Chapel Royal, Lausanne Steinway Hall and Kultur-Rockt Festival. He has appeared as guest principal cellist with the Welsh National Opera orchestra, principal cellist of ensemble Collegium under direction of soloist Lawrence Power, as well as chamber musician in the 2017 Concerts in The West series, the Royal Overseas League and St Martin-in-the-Fields. In February 2017, he was awarded the Grand Prize Special from all categories at the II Augustin Aponte International Music Competition in Tenerife.

A keen orchestral musician, Timothée has performed with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and the European Philharmonic of Switzerland in venues including Geneva’s Victoria Hall, Lausanne’s Salle Metropole and Palais Beaulieu, Montreux’s Auditorium Stravinsky, the Opéra de Vichy under conductors including Charles Dutoit, Markus Stenz, Carlo Rizzi and Christian Zacharias, and with soloists including Martha Argerich and Leonidas Kavakos. In addition to cello, Timothée has performed regularly as a baritone soloist, singing at Geneva’s Victoria Hall accompanied by the Geneva Chamber Orchestra.

The Behn Quartet
is formed of players from England, the Netherlands, Portugal and New Zealand. Winners of the Orlando International Chamber Music Competition, they are currently an Associate Ensemble at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and previously held the CAVATINA Chamber Music Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London. They take their name from Aphra Behn, the seventeenth-century playwright, political activist, and philanthropist of the arts.

Since their formation in 2015 the Behn Quartet has given recitals across Europe, at venues including the Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw, at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, the Fondazione Cini Venice and at the Filarmonica Laudamo Messina in association with Le Dimore del Quartetto. They also gave a highly acclaimed tour as 2018 Encompass Artists with Chamber Music New Zealand, reviewed in the New Zealand Herald as ‘a performance that left the audience silently spellbound for several seconds before bursting into enthusiastic applause, recognising the magic cast throughout the auditorium by this talented quartet.’

Contemporary music has an important place within their repertoire; they gave the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ final work at his Memorial Concert in St John’s Smith Square and live on BBC Radio 3, and have recorded chamber works by Maxwell Davies, Stravinsky and Birtwistle for Linn Records, conducted by the late Oliver Knussen.

The Behn Quartet are generously supported by Help Musicians UK, the De Lancey & De La Hanty Foundation, and the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust. The Quartet plays instruments and bows kindly on loan by the Harrison Frank Foundation and Hurwitz Fine Instruments.

Booklet for Robin Stevens: String Quartets & String Quintet