Another lunchtime concert, another string quartet. They seem to be reproducing at an astonishing rate these days, but with these dames, walking on with their trademark black and royal purple outfits, there was an audible tremble in the air.

The packed house obviously knew their stuff,  and were expecting great things from these four young dynamo’s of the string world. Unlike the long queue of desperate people waiting for returns we were not to be disappointed.

Rapidly rising stars of the chamber music world the Finzi Quartet won first-prize in this year’s Royal Overseas League competition and have recently been quartet-in-residence for two weeks at Aldeburgh. The Quartet also recently took the third prize in the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in Norway and it is a laureate of the 31st London International String Quartet Competition.

They took an already lively Mozart (string quartet in G major K387) and supercharged it with the verve and vibrancy that might have made the old man himself sit up and take note. These are vibrant, versatile and high voltage players and as they attacked their instruments with an electric passion the music swept up, through and past us. 

They were spectacularly tight and teased out the subtleties that lie in-between the frenzied movements of this piece, layering the sound down with such a finesse that the heart sang to hear it.

The Finzi, apart from showing us fantastic frenzied playing are also familiar with the gentle delicacy needed to do justice to the slow movements of the Debussy String Quartet in G minor Op. 10 and the astonishing Scherzo which complimented it perfectly.  The delight this quartet have playing with each other is evident in this wonderful piece which brought this lunchtime concert to a close.

More info on the lunchtime concerts at the Pavilion Theatre Here:
www.brightonfestival.org/events.aspx?p=i&i=FLUNC

Finzi Quartet website: www.finziquartet.com/home