We discovered early on in our career as a string quartet, that we have a shared love of English composer Benjamin Britten, so we really wanted to make his music the focus point of our CD. The decision to pair his String Quartet No. 2 with American composer Caroline Shaw’s ‘’Plan and Elevation’’ came very naturally to us, as there are many parallels to be found in their respective sound worlds. Both composers envisage open and spacious scenery: in Britten’s case, the vast sea landscapes of the Suffolk coastline; in Caroline Shaw’s, the stunning grounds at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C. At their core, these works embody the extreme vocal possibilities of string instruments, as well as an intuitive understanding of the intricacies of string quartet writing. 

Although we didn’t record any of his works on the CD, Henry Purcell plays a central role in our programme. His Chaconnes were the inspiration behind the third movement of Britten’s String Quartet No. 2 and we can draw on the connection between the five ground bass lines in Shaw’s ‘’Plan and Elevation’’, which form the basic movement of each of the five pieces, and the ‘Chaconne’ as a Baroque dance.  This in turn led to the idea of commissioning a composition based on music from The Dancing Master: essentially an instructive dance manual and collection of English dances compiled by a contemporary of Purcell called John Playford in 1651 and brilliantly arranged for us by Arthur Klaassens in 2022. ‘’neere the Church doore’’ offers a glimpse into the festive world of 17^th century England, through a modern lens.