The Bridge Quartet give here, arguably, the finest account of Grieg's G Minor Quartet since the 1937 Budapest version and certainly the most idiomatic of all modern recordings. This is noble playing admirably recorded.
International Record Review, Robert Matthew-Walker
The Bridge String Quartet is committed to working in the local community. The Quartet has been involved for many years. Some of the projects include (click on any of the links for more information):
On 29 June 2007, the Quartet performed two concerts in St Paul's Church, Brentford.
The whole project was sponsored by ISIS and the concerts were the culmination of the work the Quartet had been doing in local schools to help students gain a better appreciation of classical music through listening, participation and expressing their reactions through painting and drawing.
The second concert was part of the Elderly People's Festival and was enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience of local people.
Shared Platoforms is an initiative that brings together music from different communities. The Quartet performs with musicians from other backgrounds and cultures such as the Raj Academy (more details here).
On 20 March 2007, the Quartet played two concerts in West London (more details here). They played some Schubert, Elgar and Bridge and the audiences greatly enjoyed the music.
The first was a lunch-time concert for Age Concern in Brentford. There was an excellent turn out and for many of the audience it was their first experience of listening to a string quartet live. As well as introducing the music, the similarity between the three different instruments and the different "voices" in a choir was explained.
The second concert of the day was in Feltham where the Quartet played to the Asian Women's Group. Again, the audience had not experienced much "western" music and it was their first experience of listening to a string quartet live. The concert was very well received and we hope to organise more events, including some with a mixture of "eastern" and "western" music with the Quartet sharing the stage with specialist musicians from the Asian area.
On 20 September 2006, the Quartet played a lunch time concert at the West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth, West London.
Many of the patients at the hospital and visitors enjoyed listening to Mozart and Dvorak. The concert was held in the main entrance atrium near to the cafe so that the maximum number of people possible could enjoy the music.
The Haverfield Estate is in West London. The Quartet worked with young people from the estate to introduce them to classical music. None of the young people could play an instrument before joining the project and they volunteered to work with the Quartet to learn an instrument with the objective of playing with them in a concert.
The project was welcomed by all in the community. The group performed in varied venues across Hounslow, including Brentford Football Club, at Hounslow Civic Centre for Holocaust Day, at Watermans Arts Centre, Sunbury Golf Club and IBM in aid of Red Nose Day, which was shown on BBC TV (pictures here).