Farewell to the Lindsays

[Ralph]

Last call for top string quartet

Tom Service
Saturday August 6, 2005

Guardian
After 40 years, the Lindsays, the most successful British string quartet of their generation, have given their final concert in Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.

Their last piece was by Beethoven with whom they have been most closely associated: his last quartet, Op 135. "We had to have Beethoven," says violinist Peter Cropper, the founder and leader.

There have only been two changes in four decades: second violin Ronald Birks stepped into Michael Adamson's shoes in 1972, and viola Robin Ireland replaced Roger Bigley in 1986. Cellist Bernard Gregor-Smith, like Cropper, was there from the start.

They became the stars of the string quartet scene, especially in the music of Haydn and Michael Tippett as well as Beethoven.

James Jolly, editor of Gramophone Magazine, said: "There's an obsession with tuning in many string quartets, but that was never the most important thing with the Lindsays. Their performances had an edge-of-the-seat, almost improvisatory quality."

Their last season included a cycle of Beethoven quartets at London's Wigmore Hall. John Gilhooly, the hall's director, said: "The concerts felt like the end of an era. But I think they went a little before their time."

Cropper decided to disband three years ago and the other players had to adjust to the shock. He said: "When I made this decision I had no idea what I was going to do afterwards. But I think we have made the most of it - we have played our socks off in just about every concert this season."

Ireland said: "We determined to give this music every ounce of our commitment and energy in a way you can't do if you don't have an end in sight'.

Cropper plans to focus on Beethoven's violin sonatas, and he will still be running Music in the Round in Sheffield, the chamber music festival he set up 21 years ago, in which the Lindsays' performances were fixtures.

[pizza]

I have never understood the popularity of the Lindsays. To my ears they had a peculiar, slightly off-key tone -- nothing patent but just enough so that it grated on the nerves. ASV's recording engineers didn't do them any favors either. Aside from that, it's difficult to understand how a successful quartet can disband after 40 years.

[herman]

Indeed, the Lindsays may have been Britain's alledged top string quartet for many years, but that was most mostly thanks to the sheer persistence of the British media saying so. Imagine being in another good British string quartet, and being able to actually play without wobbly pitch, or work your butt off to be be able to do what a string quartet is supposed to do: blend and sound like one instrument - it didn't matter. The media weren't going to think again: they said the Lindsays were the top band, and they were not going to change their mind.

And the other thing is: what's the drama in disbanding after forty years? What were they supposed to do otherwise? Another forty years? Who'd notice? Record yet another irrelevant Beethoven cycle?

[12tone]

All four members went off to develop their long-held desires for bigger things...namely to start new quartets (so four more in total) to compete with BOND. Let's see how that goes.