Brodsky Quartet
One of Britain's most durable chamber groups, The Brodsky Quartet is also among the most innovative. It is one of the few chamber ensembles that has excelled both in traditional repertory and in cross-genre collaborations.
The quartet was founded in 1972 when Michael Thomas (violin), Ian Belton (violin), Alex Robertson (viola), and Jacqueline Thomas (cello), students in the youth program at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (all were between ages 11 and 13 at the time), formed a string quartet and named it after violinist Adolph Brodsky (1851-1929). The quartet studied with members of the Amadeus and Vermeer Quartets and won several major prizes, beginning with the Portsmouth Chamber Music Competition in 1979. The Brodsky Quartet made its London debut in 1982. Its recording career began in 1984 with an album of works by Delius and Elgar on the ASV label. The group served a residency at Cambridge University from 1985 to 1988, becoming the first string quartet to hold such a position there. In 1989, it performed the complete string quartets of Shostakovich at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Two years later, The Brodsky Quartet made its debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. The group has taught at the Dartington Summer School and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. As of 2019, Ian Belton and Jacqueline Thomas remained from the original lineup; they were joined by first violinist Krysia Osostowicz and violist Paul Cassidy.
The group's collaborations with rock and pop artists began in the 1990s; in 1993, it was featured on the Elvis Costello album The Juliet Letters, which charted in both the U.K. and the U.S. The Brodsky Quartet has also worked with Paul McCartney and with Björk on the "Strings" volume of her 2002 Family Tree set. In 1994, The Brodsky Quartet became the first string quartet to appear on The Tonight Show. The group's cross-genre collaborations of the 2010s have included With Love and Fury, on which they were teamed with singer/songwriter Katie Noonan, who drew on the writings of poet Judith Wright. The quartet's recordings have also included Beethoven and Shostakovich sets, as well as a good deal of contemporary music. It has recorded mostly for Chandos, Teldec, and Challenge Classics, releasing Elgar's String Quartet, Op. 83, and String Quintet, Op. 84 (with Martin Roscoe) for Chandos in 2019. The Brodsky Quartet returned on that label in 2020 with a cycle of Beethoven's late string quartets, and the following year, the group issued Homage to Bach, featuring string quartet arrangements of Bach's solo violin sonatas. In 2022, the group backed jazz vocalist Jacqui Dankworth on Rocking Horse Road, a cross-genre collection of songs. By that time, the quartet's recording catalog included more than 45 items.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Golden Oldies – More Favourite Encores
Brodsky Quartet, Laura van der Heijden, Julian Jacobsen
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 17 Mar 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Homage to Bach
Quartets - Released by Chandos on 1 Jun 2021
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Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets
Quartets - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 2016
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Schubert: String Quintet, Quartettsatz
Brodsky Quartet, Laura van der Heijden
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 30 Sep 2022
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Rocking Horse Road
Jacqui Dankworth, Brodsky Quartet
Classical - Released by Chandos on 28 Jan 2022
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Debussy: String Quartet and Piano Trio
Brodsky Quartet, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Sioned Williams, Chris Laurence
Quartets - Released by Chandos on 1 Apr 2012
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Shostakovich: The String Quartets
Chamber Music - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Late String Quartets
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Jan 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Quartet, D. 703 'Quartettsatz'
Brodsky Quartet, Laura van der Heijden
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 23 Sep 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
In the South
Quartets - Released by Chandos on 1 Apr 2013
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Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8, Op. 110
Chamber Music - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zemlinsky: Complete String Quartets
Quartets - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2015
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The Complete String Quartets
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on 10 Jul 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Flute Quartets
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2017
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Brahms: String Quartet, Op. 51, No. 2 & Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115
Brodsky Quartet, Michael Collins
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Mar 2014
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Petits Fours - Favourite Encores
Brodsky Quartet, Robert Smissen, Philip Edward Fisher
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2012
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Andrzej & Roxanna Panufnik: Messages
Brodsky Quartet, Robert Smissen, Richard May
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Nov 2014
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New World Quartets
Quartets - Released by Chandos on 1 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on 20 Mar 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet
Brodsky Quartet, Joan Enric Lluna
Chamber Music - Released by Signum-Cala on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: String Quartet in A Minor & Clarinet Quintet
Brodsky Quartet, Michael Collins
Quartets - Released by Chandos on 1 Mar 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo