Frank Bridge: Quartet #1 in E minor (1906)

Adagio; Allegro appassionato Adagio molto (9:58) Allegretto grazioso (18:45) Allegro agitato (23:46) The Vermeer learned this marvelous quartet in the late 1980s at the suggestion of Paul Cropper, the principal violist of the BBC Manchester Philharmonic and the uncle of Peter Cropper, the 1st violinist of the Lindsay Quartet. Paul had admired the Vermeer’s performances of quartets by Benjamin Britten, whose early teacher was Frank Bridge. Composed in 1906 when Bridge was 27, this work was premiered three years later by the London String Quartet whose violist was Bridge himself. Much of it is brooding and turbulent, though the dark clouds part from time to time – for instance, during the gorgeous second themes of the 1st and 4th movements, and throughout the 3rd movement. (Marc fondly referred to this Allegretto grazioso as “English breakfast music.”) For years, the Vermeer performed and taught at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut. These summer concerts took place in a large, rustic shed that was open on the sides. Unknown to the Vermeer and most of the audience, a listener suffered an apparent heart attack during this Bridge quartet, and paramedics were called. The sound of the ambulance can be heard during the final hushed moments.