Maddalena Lombardini – String Quartet No.3 in G minor [c.1765]
Haydn – String Quartet in D minor Op.76 No.2 Fifths [1797]
Donnacha Dennehy – Pushpulling [2007]
Beethoven – String Quartet in F major Op.18 No.1 [1798-1800]

Maddalena Lombardini was born in Venice in 1745 and became renowned across Europe as a violinist, singer and composer. Her six elegant and lyrical quartets were published in 1769 and so pre-date most of Haydn’s mature works.

Haydn’s Op.76 was his last complete set of quartets, written at the height of his extraordinary powers and for sizeable public audiences befitting his fame as a composer. No.2 in D minor features a virtuosic finale with a distinctly Hungarian flavour

Describing Pushpulling, Donnacha Dennehy writes of the poignancy of ever-elongating pushes away from home, only to return, as sure as night follows day, to the same position again

Beethoven’s iconic F major quartet was written only a year or two after the Haydn quartet but in his first set of quartets the 28 year old composer is already exploring new and boldly original directions. At the heart of the work is a slow movement of great drama and emotional power, inspired by the tomb scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.