The Griller String Quartet was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

musical ensemble particularly active from 1931 to c.1961 or 1963, when it was disbanded. The quartet was in residence at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

from 1949 to 1961. It performed a wide repertory, including works written for it by Ernest Bloch,

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

, and

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...

Personnel

The personnel included: 1st violin: Sidney Griller
2nd violin: Jack O'Brien
viola: Philip Burton
violoncello: Colin Hampton

Origins

Among the Quartet's first recordings was that of the oboe quintet written by

Elizabeth Maconchy Dame Elizabeth Violet Maconchy LeFanu (; 19 March 1907 – 11 November 1994) was an Irish-English composer. She is considered to be one of the finest composers Great Britain and Ireland have produced. Biography Elizabeth Violet Maconchy was b ...

(a pupil of Ralph Vaughan Williams), a work which was a prize winner in the London '' Daily Telegraph'' Chamber Music Competition of 1933. They performed at Gloucester Cathedral in the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...

in September 1934. The Quartet gave the premiere of the Arnold Cooke first string quartet in 1935. In 1944 they performed the

quartet no 1 in G major at the Duke's Hall in a special concert with

Clifford Curzon Sir Clifford Michael Curzon CBE (né Siegenberg; 18 May 19071 September 1982) was an English classical pianist. Curzon studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and subsequently with Artur Schnabel in Berlin and Wanda Landowska and Na ...

, on behalf of Sir Henry J. Wood.R. Pound, Sir Heny Wood, A Biography (Cassell, London 1969), 314. In performance they were sometimes joined by

William Primrose William Primrose CBE (23 August 19041 May 1982) was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed i ...

, Max Gilbert or

Denis Matthews Denis Matthews (27 February 191925 December 1988) was an English pianist and musicologist whose performing career flourished after the war, during the 1950s and into the 1960s. He later turned increasingly to broadcasting, writing and teaching. ...

Recordings

The Griller Quartet recorded extensively for Decca Records in the later 78rpm and early LP era. Some examples of their recorded art are as follows: *

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

: Quartet op 95 in F minor. (Decca lx 3026 and (78) AK 2185-7). (Before 1950) * Beethoven: Quartet op 132 in A minor. (Decca LP LXT 2573). (Before 1953) *

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...

: Quartet no 2 in F minor (1950). (Decca lx 3038). (Before 1953) * Bliss: Quintet for clarinet and strings, with Frederick Thurston. (Decca K 780-3). (1935) * Bloch: Quartets no 1,2,3,4. (Decca LP LXT 5071, 5072, 5073). (EMG review Dec 1955) * Dvořák: Quartet no 6 in F major op 96. (Decca LP LXT 2530). (Before 1950) *

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

: The Seven Last Words from the Cross (with Max Gilbert). (Decca 78rpm, 17 sides, AK 2139-2147). (Before 1950) * Haydn: Quartet op 3 no 5 in F major. (Decca LX 3087). (Before 1953) * Haydn: Quartets op. 74 nos. 1-3 (recorded at Hertz Hall, Berkeley) (LP VSD-2033, 2034-B, and as Vanguard/Bach Guild HM-42 SD). * Maconchy: Quintet for oboe and strings, with Helen Gaskel (HMV 78rpm, B 4448-9). (Before 1936) * Mozart: Quartet in B flat major K 159. (Decca lx 3087). (Before 1953) * Mozart: Quartet in C major K 465. (Decca 78rpm, 7 sides, AK 2049-2052). (Before 1950) * Mozart: Quintet in G minor K 516 (with Max Gilbert). (Decca LP LXT 2515 & 78rpm AX 343-346). (15-16 Nov 1948, West Hampstead Studios) * Mozart: Quintet in C minor K 406 (with

). (Top Rank LP XRK 504/ Fontana BIG 430-Y/ Vanguard/Bach Guild HM-29 SD). (EMG review June 1959) * Mozart: Quintet in G minor K 516 (with William Primrose). (Top Rank LP XRK 504/ Fontana BIG 430-Y/ Vanguard/Bach Guild HM-29 SD). (EMG review June 1959) * Mozart: Quartet in d minor K.421 * Mozart: Quartet in F major K 168. (Decca LP LXT 2728). (Before 1953) * Mozart: Quartet in B flat major K 458 'Hunt'. (Decca LP LXT 2728). (Before 1953) * Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C minor K 546. (Decca LP LXT 2530). (Before 1953) *

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest Eng ...

: Four-part fantasia no 3 (arr Warlock). (Decca 78rpm, 1 side, AK 2049-52 side filler). (Before 1950) * Rubbra: Quartet no 2 E flat major op 73. (Decca lx 3088). (Before 1953) *

Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

: Quartet in D minor op 56, '' Voces intimae''. (Decca LP LXT 2575). (Before 1953) For a virtually complete list, se
DECCA CLASSICAL, 1929-2009

Sources

* ''Decca Supplementary catalogue of 78rpm and 33rpm Long-playing Records April 1949 to September, 1950'' (London 1950). * E. Sackville-West and D. Shawe-Taylor, ''The Record Year 2'' (Collins, London 1953). * E.M.G., ''The Art of Record Buying 1960'' (London 1960). * Fontana BIG 430-Y, ''sleevenotes'' (for list of personnel). * Nicholas P. Lafkas, 'Quartet In Residence', ''California Monthly'' LXI, No. 3, (November 1950), pp. 22–23, 43-44.

External links

Portrait of the Griller Quartet. By Henry Carr, oil on canvas, 1941.
Royal Academy of Music {{DEFAULTSORT:Griller Quartet English string quartets Musical groups established in 1931